The Candymaker's Daughter
by Rivvy
Summary: Mirana hid from the world in her father's shop, but a summons to a new ritual in Terrielle for males to bond with strong females pulls her into the society that she hoped to never get into.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do not own any of the Character's that Anne Bishop has created. The character's I have created came to mind one day while I was sitting at work. This story may only be a couple of chapter's long, or it may be longer I don't know. Please be kind in your reviews because I want to be able to continue this story without getting depressed. I am pretty sure I will, just want people to know I am trying. I would love to have a beta if anyone is interested.****  
**

* * *

**Chapter One: Letters.  
**

There were only two things that Mirana remembered vividly about the day of Birthright Ceremony. She remembered her White jeweled witch mother's hands shaking as she granted her Tigers-Eye jeweled Warlord father all parental rights while her own small hands clutched her uncut Sapphire jewel closely to her chest and she also remembered her mother's conversation with her later that night.

"You are no different than anyone else," her mother, Kerin, told her that night while tucking the covers around Mirana's shivering body. Mirana wasn't cold as much as she was frightened about how her family would feel about her now that she was the darkest jeweled member of the family. Her Uncle Alec was the only adult member of the family who wore a dark jewel, Green, and everyone was afraid of him because he was a Warlord Prince. What were they going to do when other people outside the family found out she was a Queen as well as a Natural Black Widow and Healer? As if reading her mind, her mother sat on the edge of her bed and ran her hand over Mirana's hair. "Sweetheart, you are safe. Your father and I will make sure of that. But you have to keep in mind that you are just like every other member of the Blood society."

"But I am a Queen," Mirana yawned.

"You are a girl, and when you are older, you will be a woman same as I," Kerin said. She gave Mirana a smile and kissed her forehead. "You just have to show everyone in your life that you being a Queen doesn't mean that you are better than they are. You are Blood, just like them, and you should be treated just the same."

Mirana tried to believe what her mother told her that night, but after that even her own cousins treated her differently. Her mother and father moved from Hayll to Challiot in one of the poorer districts to open their confectioners' shop, which afforded them the ability to be creative with their art as well as keep Mirana out of the aristo society. "I don't want her growing up being the eye of some aristo's lust for power," her Uncle Alec roared one Winsol after a particularly brutal season at court. "Every Queen out there is under scrutiny and being looked at like a broad mare. I am giving you the money to move shop. Since she is registered at the Keep we can avoid them for a while longer, but unless you take her away from this town it spells trouble. None of the aristos visit that island, not since Briarwood became the new Black Widow school. Most of them would not be caught dead around that many Black Widows. You should be safe there."

"Yes Prince," her father, Andrew, sighed. The money went a long way to establishing the shop, as well as pay for private tutors for Mirana. When Mirana wasn't practicing her craft or studying her other school work, she was helping her family in their kitchens. By the time she was thirty-two, the age when most of the longer lived races psychic scents were fully developed, her training taught her how to mask her scent enough that when she was running the front for her mother all the people smelled was the scent of chocolate or whatever she had decided to bake. To the people in the area, she was Mirana, the confectioner's daughter. Plain looking with violet eyes, dark hair, and her figure was nothing to brag about according to most, but she was sweet as the treats she made to everyone who can into the shop.

After her Offering Ceremony, everyone in the family was shocked when she walked away with the Ebon-Gray. All but her Uncle Alec didn't talk to her or visit her for at least two years. When they finally realized that she was still just Mirana, the family began to trickle back. Her deeper well of power did nothing to change who she was, and it even helped disguise herself even more since her power was so much deeper than anyone around. Being registered at The Keep in Ebon Askavi made it almost impossible for anyone to find out that she was a Queen, and the entire family thought that she was safe from ever being summoned to serve or rule.

Then the Presentation letter came.

The Presentation was started not long after the Purge. With most of the women wiped out as well as quite a bit of the males, it was realized that Terrielle needed to figure out a way to get the few females together with males so they could create the society that followed the Old Ways. It took a couple centuries after that to come up with Presentation. "It is just like a Queen setting up her court, just modified," Queen Jordyn, the only queen willing to step up and rule Hayll after the Purge. She may have only been a Yellow Jeweled Queen, but people were willing to follow her. Queen Jordyn's fairness and ability to rule made people truly believe that good Queens were still in the Realm. It took another forty years after the idea first came up for all the details to be ironed out. Uncle Alec somehow got the Queen to order candy from the shop, so her father was there to serve the treats to the people there. Lord Andrew watched as woman after woman went on the stage, all of them of the highest aristo standing of course. He was told many years later that the women who were in the presentation had to put in the large sum to even be able to be considered for Presentation.

After a couple of centuries, the money was no longer part of the Presentation as far as the females were concerned. There was a group of women appointed as officials after the first Presentation to oversee the arrangements, and they figured out that they would make more money from the men wanting a good solid female to serve. So, eventually the Presentation was hammered out into more caste driven than aristo. It was soon found out that the males would pay top dollar at a chance, any chance to be with a female. The officials ate it up the first years after they instituted that males pay to look at all the beautiful aristo women.

Then, the other males came, the ones who wanted to serve and work to make the realm better and not just go to parties and dances. So, they came up with certain number quotas that had to be filled, so if they had all the aristos of Healers, for example, they would have to look in other classes. They later added hearth witches in it after some of the higher aristos had a couple of hearth witch daughters they wanted to Present. Mirana even overheard from a gaggle of aristo females who "slummed" it to have the prestige of patronizing a poor person's shop one afternoon when she was out front one afternoon that some of the aristo families were paying to have their daughters presented before some of the "more deserving members" of society.

When the Presentation letter came telling Mirana that the Queen of Hayll was requesting her presence, the silence in the kitchen was almost deafening. "Well, we knew that it was going to happen," Andrew sighed.

"We can always tell them that she is unwell," Kerin said, wringing her hands. "Alec has connections in the court still. I am sure we can get it taken care of for her sake."

"It is fine Mum," Mirana said, reading over the list of suggested items that the officials sent with the letter. "We just have to figure out how we are going to pay for some of this stuff. I have some gowns that I can use that are leftover from my Offering, and the little money I saved will probably buy the two new gowns I know I will need if I go to a second hand store to get them."

"We have been saving for this," Andrew told her, plucking the list from Mirana's hands. "The entire family has in fact."

"What?" Mirana squeaked.

"Look, we still have a couple of weeks to worry about it, so let's just finish this order we have to deliver tomorrow," Kerin said, grabbing Mirana and guiding her toward the stock room. When the door was shut, Mirana broke down in tears.

"Mummy," she whimpered as Kerin pulled her into a hug. Mirana started to sob, hoping her mother had not forgotten the shields so her father would not hear her. "Mummy, they will all find out. They will all know."

"I know sweetling I know," Kerin murmured in soothing tones.

"I don't want to rule," she wailed.

"Mirana, listen to me," Kerin said, pushing Mirana back slightly to look her daughter in the eye. "We knew we could not keep you under wraps forever. You knew too darling."

"Mummy…"

"You could not hide in our kitchen forever," Kerin said, taking Mirana's chin in her hand with a smile. "You will make a wonderful Queen. I just know you will. Now, let's get your face washed and get to work. We can worry more about this tomorrow." Mirana called in a flask of water and rag to wipe her face as her mother left the stockroom. She sat down on a bag of flour, and took some deep breaths before contacting Christopf.

*Chris?* she sent.

*What?* he answered, annoyance coming through the line. She looked out the window and mentally kicked herself for not realizing it was still too early for most of her cousins to be awake.

*I got the letter today.* she told him. Confusion came from his end of the line.

*What letter?* he asked, the line becoming clearer as he started to wake up.

*I am to be Presented.* she sent, making sure that sarcasm was dripping off that thought.

*Oh shit.* he replied, bafflement and shock mixed in that peculiar flavor she was becoming accustom to feeling as she and her cousins got older. She smiled in spite of herself as she felt him become more aware. *Does Dad know?*

*Not yet, didn't want him to find out till later.* she told him.

*Well make sure you are prepared for the worst.* he said.

*I better get back to work or Papa will come looking for me.* she sent.

*And I will tell Dad.* he laughed.

*No-*

*Look, Dad will take it better coming from me.* Chris said. *Besides, I am supposed to meet him for lunch today. Let me tell him you got your letter and he will have a couple of days to calm down before he has a chance to visit with you.*

*Thank you Lord Millstone.* she sent, acknowledging that it was not her cousin doing this but a Warlord serving his Queen.

*Have a good day!* he sent before disconnecting the thread. Mirana sighed and hoisted herself off the sack of flour. She grabbed one of the jars of mint so she would have an excuse to tell her father why she was in there before stepping out of the stockroom to get started on her day.

* * *

"I don't believe it," Coren's mother cried happily at the letter in her hands. "I just cannot believe that you got a letter."

"That worthless Yellow Jewel bitch got in the Presentation and I didn't?" screeched Coren's sister Doris, an Opal Jewel witch. "Just because she is a hearth witch doesn't mean anything! It isn't even an official caste!"

"Your sister will never have the power to attract stronger males otherwise," their mother snapped. "You will respect the fact your sister got an invitation and be grateful."

"Father will fix this when he gets home!" Doris yelled. Coren took the letter from her mother and quietly retreated to her room as Doris continued to rant about the unfairness of it all. After shutting the door to her meager room, she read the letter for the first time herself. The officials were requesting on behalf of Queen Jordyn that she attend the Presentation, that she was one of the last ones to be selected due to her rank and social standing. However, that did not make her any less important the assured her. She was still shaking as she sat on her bed to read over the list of suggested items. That list only made her shake more. There was no way, even with the pittance of a salary she earned cleaning rooms at the local taverns that she could afford even enough of these to fool anyone that she was more than a dockhands daughter. "I'm Seventh Circle in the District Court! It should count for something!" she heard her sister wail as she stomped past her room and up the stairs to pout in the large attic space given to Doris when she came away with a dark Opal. Coren was waiting for her Offering, hoping that she would have her Virgin Night with someone before then. She only wore the Yellow, but most of the escorts she trusted work nothing darker than the Rose. If she had her offering and came away with Summer-Sky…

Her father only wore a Rose, his Birthright and Offering rank. With him only being a Warlord, if she wore the Summer-Sky she would outrank him and be able to possibly stand up to him. She could leave. If she was claimed, if someone wanted her, really truly wanted her, she may not have to come home at all.

"Coren! You are going to be late if you dally much longer!" her mother called. Coren swore and tucked the letter in the pocket behind her apron in her grey work dress. She flung open her door, grabbing her cap as she quickly told her mother good-bye before dashing out the door. As she briskly walked to the tavern she worked at a couple days a week, her hands quickly tucked her fiery red curly locks that were atypical of the long lived races up in her cap. After the Purge there was much mixing of short-lived and long-lived blood to help the population climb back up to where it needed to be. The results were people like her whose coloring was not the normal. Along with her red hair, she had extremely fair skin with chocolate brown eyes that made her typical Hayllian colored sister almost green with envy. When she dashed through the doors of The Knotted Net, her cheeks were a nice rosy color which made her blush seem like she was wearing rouge when she showed her boss Lacey, a Purple Dusk hearth witch, the letter.

"I got a letter," Coren told her shyly as she slid it onto the counter next to the register before going over to the list on the wall of people who were checking out of the tavern today.

"Your father got another bill behind you have to pay again I suppose," Lacey said tartly, shutting the register with a sharp clang. Coren stood with her back to Lacey, forcing herself to focus on the list as she heard the rustling of the envelope. She turned around after a few moments of tense silence to see Lacey grinning from ear to ear, tears in the older woman's eyes. "Oh, oh my dear. You are being Presented!" The woman wrapped Coren in a hug, laughing and jumping up and down.

"What's this racket about?" Geoff, a grisly old captain on a crabbing boat that wore a Green Jewel and a Prince that made sure since the first day of work fifteen years ago Coren was not prey to some of the predators that sometimes wandered into The Knotted Net without realizing what kind of protection the tavern had.

"She is getting Presented!" Lacey said, letting Coren go and waving the letter in his face.

"No shhhhugar!" one of the newer youngsters on his boat said, correcting his swear when Geoff gave him a sharp look. "My sister is a Purple Dusk Healer and couldn't get in a Presentation before she was asked to serve in the Third Circle at the District Court this past year. That is great!"

"Let me see that letter," Geoff said, making a forking over motion.

"I need to get to work, have six rooms to clean this morning," Coren said, stepping away and leaving them to her letter.

* * *

"Why do we have to go?" Luc asked the Shalador Elders Council.

"When we have had a formal request that we sent by the Queen of Hayll that we send one man of each rank to the Presentation and not have to pay the fees, we honor the request," Blade, a Sapphire Jewel Warlord and Luc and Yarek's grandfather, explained as he handed over the letter for Luc to review.

"I have no problem with this," Jared said cheerfully. "In fact, I would love to see Hayll." Yarek just grunted on the other side of Luc. Luc sighed, taking the letter and read through it. It was clever really. Queen Jordyn had been trying to get the Shalador people to come to the Presentation for centuries, but they haven't had the money to pay the fees without beggaring themselves since the men from less desirable Territories were charged almost triple no matter what the Queen said. So, if a formal request from the Queen saying that the fees were waved for this year, there was no excuse for the Territory not to send males. Of course, with he and the other two being the highest ranking single men in Shalador Nehele of the three ranks, they would be sent. Luc sighed and set down the letter.

"I suppose I don't have a say in this," Luc sighed.

"The sickness wiped out most of the females, and the few Queens we have now aren't ready to start ruling for a while," Blade replied. "As Warlord Prince of Shalador Nehele, it is your responsibility to go and represent our people. Even if you do not bring back any females, you will show the people there we are the same as they are. It might bring new people here to live."

"Well, I suppose we best go home and tell our families," Jared said, standing. "Mother wanted me home before midday meal."

"You will be expected to send your own letters of acceptance," Blade said.

"Of course," Luc said as he stood, Yarek following his lead and standing as well. "We will do right by our people."

"Thank you Prince Grayhaven," Blade said.

"I will be going Lord Grayhaven," Yarek said in his deep rumble of a voice. Luc's eyebrows went up in shock. Yarek left the Queen's Residence, still her residence even if a Queen did not live in Eyota because The Rose Queen chose to honor this village as the place she chose to rule from and this was her home till the day she died, and Jared followed after him. Luc stood there, eyeballing the other members of the council before giving them all a nod and leaving without another word. Yarek and Jared stood at the steps of the residence, waiting for Luc.

"Uncle Daemon isn't going to like us going to Hayll," Jared said.

"We aren't going to tell him," Luc said, looking at his cousin and studying him. The dark hair, dark eyed Sapphire Prince never willingly left Eyota to go anywhere but The Keep to meet with their Uncle's or Janelle when it suited her to have someone accompany her to their local festivities. Luc was a Black Jewel Warlord Prince; the only Black Jewel in the realm unless Uncle Daemon was at The Keep, and he was still not the one Janelle chose to escort her. Luc thinks it had something to do with the fact Yarek was a century older than he was and Janelle has known him longer.

"Tersa told me I should go," Yarek said, understanding the unspoken question in the look Luc was giving him. Jared rocked back on his heels in shock.

"When did you see Tersa?" Jared asked, his voice coming out strangled. The Green Jewel Warlord only met Tersa once, and he didn't like to talk about it. Luc understood that sentiment himself since the one and only time he saw the Broken Black Widow that was Uncle Daemon's mother she gave him a vision that made his blood run cold. _Best not think of that,_ Luc thought to himself as he watched Yarek shift his stance and give them both a shrug.

"She was there when I was making the business delivery last month," he said, giving them both a little wave before walking off towards the Healers house where he and his mother resided.

"Have you ever wondered about him?" Jared asked Luc as the both of them watched him go around the corner.

"There are many things I wonder about in life," Luc sighed. "Well, best get home to tell our mothers where we are going."

"I bet I will hear yours all the way in the landen settlement," Jared chuckled.

"Your mom still taking up weaving lessons?" Luc asked as he and Jared headed down Main Street.

"Oh yea," Jared sighed, smiling at the children running through the street and chasing a sheltie holding a ball in its mouth. "She is trying so hard to be good at it, they wonder if she will get better if she stops trying and just weaves."

"Luckily, my mother doesn't have that silly notion and just sticks to woodworking," Luc sighed. Most of the women in the area took up any type of craft they could get their hands on to have something to do while the men were out rebuilding the community when a flood came through a few centuries back. His mother's family excelled at carving wood and making furniture, which earned them a decent cash flow to pay the tithes and have Uncle Daemon invest in case one day the business dried up.

Luc stopped at the end of the village, letting Jared go on to the Landen settlement and looking back at his home village with pride. His great-grandmother told him stories of when she was a small child, when Daemon Sadi, Warlord Prince of Dhemlan, High Lord of Hell, and his honorary uncle, came to the village for the first time as a courtesy to collect the last payment of the loan he gave The Rose Queen so long ago. She told him that the man was terrifyingly beautiful, but was polite and took the money with grace. He never thought he would meet the man that helped his people build their life till he walked away from the altar with the Black Jewel. Uncle Daemon wanted to be a part of his life, to help show him that his power didn't have to make him so different. Luc learned almost everything he knew from his Uncle Daemon since his father died when Luc was a small child in an accident while he was out gathering some wood for a project that was commissioned by an aristo in Dena Nehele. His father's death still weighed on his heart, but he was happy that he is often told that he is the honoring the memory of the man by being the man that his father wanted him to be for his people. He was proud that the children could play in the street without fear, that the women could spend their moondays with males without losing their craft, and the Landens could come into town without worrying that the Blood they have lived with side by side for centuries would do them harm. He was proud that he protected that, even though he did not have much privacy because of it.

He turned from the village and walked toward his home, glad that he had at least one place that he could get away from it all. His mother inherited the house that his great-grandfather fixed up when he found it near the edge of the woods on one of his excursions to find some material. His grandmother told him stories about how her father would drain his jewels every day to get it ready to move into since it seemed like no one had touched the home since before the Purge almost two thousand years ago. Now, his mother and him live there, they only two of his mother's family left. His mother and father were both half breeds, each having some short and long lived races in them like most of the people who lived in the village since they had such a close relationship with the Dhemlan, but his grandparents on her side had perished in the sickness like many of the others in his village had decades ago.

As he came over the last rise, he saw the cottage in the distance with his mother on the roof. He chuckled as he heard her yelp and shaking her hand. The amount of times that he told her to wait and let him help was in the thousands, but she would never let him pick up another woodworking tool after his first and only attempt to make something. That particular piece of wood was sitting on the mantle as a reminder every time he even thought about helping his mother with a project. He smiled and stuck his hands in his pockets, slowing his walk to a leisurely stroll to give her time to hide whatever injury she caused herself before he saw it. When he reached within hearing distance, he could hear her cursing instead of singing her usual songs.

"Blasted roof!" she finally shouted before gathering all of her tools and using craft to air walk off the roof like she was walking down the stairs.

"I could get one of the Landens to come out and help with it Mum," Luc chuckled as he took the tool box from her.

"That is all well and good but I most certainly can do things on my own," she snarled trying to taking the tool box back from him without success. "The roof is just giving me trouble more than usual. So what did the elders want to talk to you about? You didn't get into more trouble did you?"

"Why do you always assume that I am in trouble?" Luc sighed, using craft and opening the door for her. He ignored the glare his mother sent him as she flounced into the house since he could count the days better than his mother cared for him to. "It could have been important business for all you know!"

"I know my son and his friends better than that," she snapped, using craft to put a kettle on.

"Mum, I need to tell you something," Luc said.

"Well tell me in a minute, I want to make you some tea I bought from the market when I went last time with our baubles I made for some quick marks instead of dipping into our investment fund for something as trivial as supplies for our roof," she said as she bustled around the small room. Luc set down the tool box and grabbed the mugs from his mother.

"How about I make you some tea and you sit down since you were working all day?" he told her as he set the mugs down. He guided his protesting mother into a chair and helped her sit in a way that was just short of shoving her into it before bustling around the small space to prepare the tea. He and his mother knew that this house was smaller than they both liked, but the advantages of people not bothering him for every little thing that the local males could take care of was the deciding factor on living so far out from town. The brief period that they lived in town when he became the Warlord Prince of Shalador Nehele was proof of that. There was never a moment's peace or a day when there wasn't someone in his sitting room wringing their hands over something like a neighbor stole their garden area or the male was being too forward and not accepting that the female was not acknowledging a claim. The former was more bothersome than the latter, but the latter would easily be dealt with if the males in the Districts and Providences would man up. The only Queens in the Territories that were alive were too young to rule or males didn't want them too. A Queen serving in a court was one thing while ruling was another. He poured the water into the mugs when the water was hot enough and sat across from his mother while it steeped. His mother had calmed down enough that she studied his face, and he saw her anger fade to worry.

"You are in trouble, aren't you?" she asked gently, reaching both of her hands over the tables for his. Her grip was firm on his hands as she looked into his eyes, her gold ones looking deep into his own gold colored eyes. "Not the mischievous trouble, but real trouble."

"Not exactly," he sighed, giving his mother's hand a reassuring grip before explaining what was to come for him.

* * *

"You need me to wait tables before I head home?" Coren asked Lacey as she came out from the back to see The Knotted Net packed. All the washing was done and she even helped out in the kitchen some since the other tavern and the only Red Moon house she would ever catch herself in to clean sent her messages that they didn't need her that day. It was well that they didn't because all she could think about now that the excitement of receiving the letter was how she was going to pay for the things she needed, and her head was not in her work. She even burnt a couple of baskets of rolls because she didn't keep track of how long they had been in the oven. Her mind just kept turning over the figures she knew her sister had paid for her gowns for court, and those were second hand that Coren herself made look brand new. It was not looking pretty.

"Oh, good you are done," Lacey smiled, waving her hand at her bouncer. Coren took a good look around and was shocked to see the owner of the Red Moon house with most of her girls as well at the owner of the other tavern. A lot of the regulars were there, some of them being dockhands and fishermen that worked with Geoff but the rest just men who came in on nights to have a glass of ale when their work was done. Lacey turned to her with a smile and waved her over. "Come here love. We have something to tell you."

"What's wrong?" Coren said in a panic. "Are all of you firing me?" Her panic grew as she realized that if all of her employers fired her she would not be able to earn more money for the things she needed as well as help her family support themselves with the way her father drank and gambled.

"No darling," Geoff laughed as he stood up from his seat at the bar. Everyone fell silent as he turned and faced the common room full of people. Lacey pulled Coren around the counter to stand beside him as he started speaking. "As many of you may have heard today, our little Cory has been summoned to be Presented." The crowd cheered and stomped their feet, making Coren blush. Geoff laughed and waved his hands. "Now settle down you lot. Settle down. I know it will be difficult for us to get by without her for the month that she will no longer be with us, but we all hope things go well for her!"

"Hear hear!" someone in the crowd said.

"Now," Geoff shouted over the cheers that erupted. "We all have agreed, you lot included, that we take care of our own, so for our little Cory we have a gift to help her out." He called in a large envelope, and turned to Coren. "We were going to save this for your Offering present, but we have a bit of money set aside for you."

"Geoff," Coren said.

"We all love you dearly, and one of our own going means that you will show them who we really are, so we want you to look your best to impress them," Lacey told her.

"I don't…I don't know what to say," Coren said, turning to look at everyone in the bar. She felt her eyes mist up as she took the envelope from a beaming Geoff. "Thank you. All of you. I am sure this will help me immensely. I do not know how I can thank you enough for this."

"Make sure you bring back the man for us to get a good look at!" one of the girls from the Red Moon house shouted.

"Or men!" one of the others yelled, sending the common room into an uproar of laughter.

"All right everyone who isn't staying tonight needs to go back to work or their homes!" Lacey shouted, having to use Craft to have her voice heard over the crowd. After everyone but the owners of the businesses she worked at, Geoff, the few patrons staying the night, and a man she never met before left, Lacey sat Coren at the counter so she was sitting next to the strange man and Geoff on her other side.

"Coren, I am Lord Richard. I am a man of business that handles the financial affairs of people in this area," the man she never met before told her.

"Please to meet you Lord Richard," Coren said, shaking the hand he offered her.

"Lacey brought me here tonight so we could go over your trust and businesses before you go so you may see what kind of funds you have to work with," Lord Richard told her as he took the envelope from her hands and started to place the paperwork on the bar.

"I don't understand," Coren said, giving a gleeful Lacey a confused look.

"Coren lass, have you ever wondered why we didn't give you anything more than a pittance for pay or that Lacey required your father to give you your majority before she hired you?" Lady Thalia, the woman who ran the Red Moon house, asked as she helped Lacey pour some drinks for the few patrons left. "We know who your father is and what he does with all the extra money that comes into the household."

"It isn't a secret around these parts," Geoff said. "Lacey decided when she hired you on that she would pay you the minimum amount that your father and mother would expect from a girl whose first job was just cleaning rooms, and if you happened to do more than that the extra money you earned would go into a trust your father could not find."

"And of course you did more," Lacey snorted with a twinkle in her eyes. "Hiring a hearth witch is something I should have done long ago. Didn't have to tell you to do anything twice and always did more than you needed to do. Knew you would earn your keep and more when you wandered in here like a terrified waif, asking if I needed someone to do some light work for a few coppers. We all decided that all your extra money should go in the account so your father couldn't gamble or drink it away."

"We also took the tips from your room cleanings and put them in the account as well," Lord Harris said.

"The girls also gave me money to put in your account for all the mending and clothes you made for them," Thalia chuckled. "I never figured out how they were getting newer looking outfits till one of the girls told me they were setting aside money for you in case you needed it. Betsy and I took it to Lord Richard with the intent to set up our own account for you, and found out that you already had a trust, so I started putting your extra money in as well."

"That's…that's…" Coren felt her head start to swim. She reached over the counter and took one of the brandy bottles, uncorking it to take a long drink. When she stopped coughing, Lord Richard handed her a paper.

"This is what your investments and pay have earned you have earned you over the last fifteen years," he told her. She set down the brandy bottle, and almost fell off the stool when she saw the amount of gold marks she had.

"This…this is all mine?" Coren whisper hopefully. There were enough gold marks in this account to move into a slightly better area of Hayll. She could leave her family behind. If she lived carefully, she could make this money last a century at least. Maybe two if she stayed in this area and worked for the others instead of trying to work for herself.

"All yours love," Geoff said gruffly.

"Now, about your businesses," Lord Richard said, calling in his briefcase and opening it to show a large envelope with her name one it.

"Businesses?" she said, looking at Geoff and Lacey. "I don't have any businesses."

"Do you remember Salty?" Geoff asked.

"Oh of course!" Coren said. Salty was an Opal Warlord who had a fishing boat business that came into the tavern when his main ship was in port and got his name from the fact his hair was always crusted with salt from the sea. He had no family, no one to really care for him, so she always made sure to go out of her way to make his stay comfortable.

"Salty told me before he died he wanted to make sure you were taken care of, so he left you his businesses," Geoff said, giving Lord Richard a nod.

"You have this fishing business of course," Lord Richard said, placing a stack of papers in front of her. "Then you have his fruit import business, his cloth import business, his livestock farms, and of course, his rental company. All yours my dear." Each of the businesses had its own separate stack on the counter. Thalia threw back her head and laughed.

"You should see the look on your face love," she chortled. "You look like you are going to throw up all over the paperwork."

"Why?" Coren asked. "I just took care of him."

"Because you acted like the daughter he wished he had," Lacey explained. "You scolded him for working sick, you let him fuss over you when it was your moontime, and when he was so far gone he couldn't get out of bed you made sure he was cared for in his last days personally. Lord Richard can attest that he was grateful for your kindness."

"So, are they doing well?" Coren asked, setting the paper from her personal trust on the counter and picking back up the bottle of brandy to take a long swig.

"Thanks to your profits being reinvested most of the first years, all of them have grown exponentially," Lord Richard told her. "In the past twenty, even with the bonuses and fees I have been granting to the various people who have helped me see what the right way to use the funds was, your profits are averaging about two million gold marks a year."

"Two million a year…is that money I can use or…"

"You can use it or reinvest it, though I urge you to use some of it since you have more than enough to make any repairs or cover any losses you may have," Lord Richard told her as he handed her yet another paper with figures on it. She blinked, processing the amount of zeros on the paper and tried to breath. With these funds she could disappear without anyone in her family finding her.

"I am giving you various notes, verifying that the funds are more than available for any purchases that you wish to make for your Presentation, and they will send the bills to me to deduct from your account," he told her warmly as he handed her another envelope. "Now, I must get home to my wife. If you need anything, feel free to contact me." He snapped his briefcase shut before vanishing it and giving everyone a polite goodbye as he walked out the door. Coren vanished all the papers and turned to a misty eyed Lacey.

"Lacey, how can I ever thank you?" Coren asked.

"Just do us proud at the Presentation," Lacey said.

"And don't forget about us," Thalia said as she came around the counter. "Now, give me a hug and get some rest. I don't want to see you around till you are done with the Presentation, to work anyway. I do want to see your new gowns." Thalia left with a sway of her hips, Lord Harris following close behind. Coren looked around to see the common room now empty except for Geoff, Lacey and herself.

"I have a request to make before you go for the evening," Geoff said quietly. "Think of it as payment for all we have done for you."

"Anything Geoff," Coren replied.

"We want you to have your Virgin Night before you are Presented," Geoff told her. She started to protest but he cut her off. "Look girlie, I know you wanted to wait till you felt the time was right, well this is it. You have your own money, you are about to be basically put up for auction to the highest bidder, and your father is going to not be too happy with the fact his main money maker might be leaving since it will no doubt get back to him that you got your trust today. I have a nephew who said he would do it. He is a Purple Dusk Warlord in Lady Beyna's Second Circle and has a list of references the length of my arm that says all of them came out intact. Salty would kill me if he knew I was sending you off without making sure you were safe from at least that danger." Lacey nodded in agreement when Coren looked at her for affirmation. Coren sat for a moment, the bottle of brandy still in her hand while she worked over the idea in her mind. If she had her Virgin Night, she would not have to go home. The only reason she stayed was the thought that being in her father's home offered some sort of protection from males, but if she wasn't a virgin…

"Can he get here tonight?" Coren asked. Geoff was taken aback, and Lacey dropped the glass she had in her hand. Coren stood, determination giving her more courage than she had in her life. "I cannot wait anymore. When my father finds out about my money he may do something drastic. All of you have helped me more than I can ever imagine, but I will have to take my future in my own hands now." The both of them gave each other a look before Geoff stood and put his hands on Coren's shoulders.

"I am so proud of you," he told her gruffly, his eyes misting over before pulling her into a hug.

"Well you can't go home," Lacey warbled. Coren stepped back from the hug to see Lacey standing behind Geoff, wiping her eyes on her apron before making a beckoning motion with her hands. "Come on love, let's get you settled."

"Do you need a note since you obviously know I am good for it?" Coren teased as she followed Lacey up the stairs with Geoff behind them.

"Bite your tongue!" Lacey said. "I will never take money from you child." The three of them walked up two more flights of stairs before Lacey put her hand on a painting at the third landing to trigger the craft-locked panel that lead to the private residence quarters. Coren stood just inside, taking in the small personal kitchen that Lacey used when she closed shop and didn't want to go all the way downstairs to make herself something to eat. She had only been up here once, which was only because she had to help Lacey when she got that flu that swept over the Territories like wildfire a few decades ago. Lacey recovered and Coren never got it, which was a small mercy since almost everyone in her family got it right after Lacey was well enough to work again.

"You didn't have to walk us up Geoff," Coren sighed as he closed the panel and triggered the craft-lock next to the door while Lacey bustled around the kitchen.

"Well since this is my home I guess I did have to Coren love," Geoff told her with a wink. Coren took in Lacey's blush as she put the cups on the table while a pot hovered over witchfire and Geoff's familiarity with which he moved around, and her jaw dropped when she realized that the two of them were lovers. Geoff chuckled at her face and shook his head. "Not observant are you?"

"Don't pick on her Geoff," Lacey said as she poured the tea into three cups. "Did you contact you nephew?"

"He said give him a couple of hours and he should be able to come over," Geoff replied, taking a sip from his cup.

"Then let's get you to your room Coren to get ready," Lacey said as she hustled Coren down a hallway.

"My room? Shouldn't I go downstairs?" Coren asked, remembering the room Lacey had set aside for her when it was too late for her to go home or when it was not safe to be around her father.

"I have another Offering present for you," Lacey said, using craft to open the door to the room across from her own. Coren was shocked to find an entire suite of rooms behind that one door. As Coren wandered through the sitting room, taking delight in the fact that the rooms had large windows overlooking the port, Lacey continued to talk. "We figured you would leave your parents' home after your Offering, and Geoff suggested that we have this set of rooms ready for you. Took a real shine to you he did when he figured out Salty started staying in port more because you were working here. We told him for years to stop being out on the boat so much and all it took was a request from you to come back more often to visit. So, these rooms are yours."

"Why don't you take them?" Coren asked, running her hand over the back of the couch before looking at an embarrassed looking Lacey.

"Geoff said that he likes small cozy little rooms," she replied. She gave Coren a sheepish grin before gesturing to the door next to the large bed. "That's your own personal bath, and when Geoff's nephew comes we will make sure to let you know. I will let you get freshened up and relaxed and-"

"Why are you doing all of this?" Coren asked. "I just work for you."

"No you don't 'just work' for us," Lacey snapped. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes before taking Coren's hands in hers. "The day you came in, I knew I had found something special. You seemed to be such a scared little mouse till the first dockhand tried to grab your ass and you tipped a tray over his head. I thought you were going to throw up when you realized what you did. Geoff made sure from that day on you were known as off limits because he couldn't stand to see you cry like you did when you understood that you did the right thing and I wasn't going to fire you. I watched you try so hard to do a good job, come in scared on your moondays because you knew your father would never forgive you for taking the day off, and even when you could barely move from the beatings that your father gave you for holding back just a little bit of the wages for something extra you wanted your work never faltered."

"And in turn, you watched over us. When that sickness came through within the first couple of weeks of you working here, you could have robbed me blind while I was down but instead you took care of the entire tavern and me as well. You would scold me for doing too much work when you were around to help, and Geoff got more than his fair share of tongue lashings when you realized that he worked more than his fair share when his men were lazy. We watched from the bar you grow relaxed enough to treat the men who have been coming here for years with teasing remarks and ask them how they were instead of just serving them. You became the daughter Geoff and I wanted but never been able to have. This is your home, if you will have it."

"This is…this is more than I could ever dream of," Coren said, unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. Lacey pulled her into a hug and laughed.

"Now no more of that," Lacey said before pulling back. "Geoff will take care of your father, so you can relax tonight and try to enjoy yourself."

"Thank you Lacey, for all of this," Coren said. Lacey gave her a smile and pat on the cheek.

"Get freshened up, and I will send in some tea while you wait," she told her before going out, leaving her with her thoughts.

* * *

Mirana almost cried when she saw her Uncle Alec stroll into the shop that afternoon at closing time. If it weren't for the fact she was serving a customer when he walked in she would have burst into tears. She should have known better than to assume that she would have a reprieve from his wrath over this. As soon as the customer left, her uncle locked the door behind the customer and flipped the sign closed before the Warlord Prince turned to face his Queen. "I will be your escort for the Presentation," he told her.

"My father has said he will be my escort, and I will be taking him not you," she said, taking off her apron and throwing it on the counter. The fact that he demanded got her back up. "If you had asked Prince Millstone I would have granted your request, but your demand now makes it so you are left home."

"I will not stand back and just let you go up on the auction block!" he roared.

"Prince Millstone, why don't we take this conversation upstairs and out of the viewing range of curious onlookers,"Mirana said, gesturing to the back. He glided past her, leaving her to finish closing up the shop and to prepare herself for the conversation that she would have to wrangle upstairs. She let out a sigh as she called in a broom to sweep with. "Being a Queen would be easier if I didn't have male relatives."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I had to change a couple things in the first chapter, as far as dates and things go because I realized that I was not monitoring it as well as I should or who is connected to who. You might want to double check a couple of things for your own sake so you aren't confused a bit. Also, thank you for being patient I know this is not really a long chapter or as fast up as most would like. I have a couple of chapters in my head so they may go up in rare pace for me. Thanks for the reviews guys.**

**Chapter 2**

Mirana looked out of her window in her suite of rooms, and realized that she was given one of the rooms with the worst view. She didn't care that she had the worst view. In fact, it probably was a minor slap in the face to most of the aristo bitches that she had this good of a room. Most of the looks she got from them while she was checking in last night were bordering on hostile. With all of the psychic scents in the crowded area it was not surprising that they could not pin point what exactly she was as far as her rank and Jewel strength. All they saw were her shabby clothes and luggage, so as far as they were concerned she was nothing but a working class slut that somehow bumped one of their closest friends off the list to be able to attend. The people at the desk were apologizing profusely when they realized what she was and shuffled some people around just to give her this room. They wanted to bump some of the more aristo girls around, but Mirana insisted that she stay in this room since they would not give her back the original room that she had been assigned. It was very discreet what they did, and she would probably leave them a generous tip because of that discretion. What really got to her was the fact that most of the girls on her floor were aristo or aristo looking. It did not take a genius to realize that she probably will have some very interesting enemies when they finally realized that she took this room from one of their "more deserving" friends.

She turned away from the window with a sigh and went to sit by the fire. It was only just starting to get colder outside so her father made sure that she had a fire started before the sun fell yesterday. It was supposed to rain that evening anyway and she would be grateful for the extra warmth after dealing with angry aristo bitches all day. She played with the pendant the officials gave her at check-in that she was to wear and have active while out in the common areas so no one could tell how powerful or what rank she was till the official Presentation. Even at the Opening Ball later this week she was to wear it and not tell anyone about herself as far as what she could do. The Black Widow was shaking when she handed Mirana her pendant, and Mirana knew why. The Black Widow was only a Green-Jewel, and she knew exactly how powerful she was herself, so an Ebon-Gray Jeweled Triple Gift was something she wasn't sure she even wanted to be around. Mirana felt the waves of anxiety coming off everyone who knew what she really was capable of doing with her power. It was depressing to even think about what might happen with the males when they took the pendants off at the official Presentation.

"Mirana love," her father said, standing in the doorway that connected his suite with hers. "The breakfast is set up for us downstairs. Are you ready?"

"Yes Papa," she said, getting up from her chair and smoothing her hand over the bodice of her best dress before walking over to him with her best smile. "How do I look?"

"I should have brought a large stick," he grumbled good-naturedly as she held out his hand on his left side. They were told all females, regardless of rank or craft strength, were to walk on the left side of their escorts. It was so everyone was on equal footing. The brilliance of the way they were doing all of this made Mirana impressed. All the women were to spend a week with the males, so the males may learn who they were and what they were like before finding out anything jewel or rank related. It was to prevent the regular witches and less powerful females from being ignored for the Healers and Queens. "I looked at our table, and I saw the seating charts when I went downstairs to see if they had a morning paper. We are as far away from the stage as possible considering your rank. Guess they couldn't fix the seating chart like they did the rooms could they?" he chuckled as they walked out of the room. The hallway was quiet as the two of them walked past the other doors on the floor and down the staircase. Mirana activated the pendant once they reached the ground floor and remembered she had to have it. She didn't like that when she was wearing it and had it activated she could not use anything beyond Basic Craft because she would break the pendants power. She was even more upset that she had to have it when she walked into the dining area and the only people in it besides her and her father were the staff. It would have been nice to have a break from having to wear the stupid thing longer than she had to. The food on the buffet smelled amazing, and it was still hot as she began to load up her plate while her father talked with some of the young men on the staff. He was always looking for new men to train in the ways of making chocolate so it didn't surprise her when she got through buffet before he even started because he was so busy talking with one of them about what the young man who was serving the bacon for did for work outside of this particular instance. She made her way to her assigned table, one sitting so far back in the room that it was almost in the last rows. More people began to file in the room as one of the servers came over with a tray with various kinds of tea and coffee on it for her to choose from. By the time she finished her first cup of coffee, the buffet line was brimming with people and her father now had to wait in a long line just to get started on his food.

"I see you get up earlier than we do," she heard a male say from beside her, breaking her thought process and drawing attention to the man and woman standing beside the table with the typical coloring of the Hayllian people before they sat down. They were both young looking, the male was stocky with a mouth that seemed ready to smile at a moments notice and the woman with an abundance of luscious curves that Mirana wished she had herself along with the same ability type of mouth. The man had seated himself next to her and held out his hand once he was settled. "Lord Zachary, pleasure to meet you. This is my sister Paulina."

"I am Lady Mirana. Nice to meet you," Mirana said, shaking his hand and realizing he was a Sapphire Jeweled Warlord. Paulina smiled at Mirana's face while shaking her head.

"Yea, living with him is a nightmare," Paulina said as she started cutting into her steak.

"Me?" Zachary said with mocking shock as he let go of Mirana's hand to point to himself. "I am a nightmare to live with? You realize I have more stories about you than I can count!"

"Oh yea?" Mirana asked, looking to a now laughing Paulina.

"Oh yea," Zachary said with a grin as he pushed the chair back from the table. "For example, there was this one time when Mother was having a Priestess come for afternoon tea..."

* * *

Coren stood there, watching the three people at that were already sitting at the table she was assigned to for her stay here, and wished she had opted to have her breakfast in her room. The quality of the gowns they wore far surpassed the one she was wearing, and not having an escort to sit with her when she could already see one of them had an escort was almost more than she could bear. It's not that she didn't try to get things. The problem was that no one believed her when she tried to go to the aristo shops in her area. They all laughed at her or threatened to call the guards on her for giving them false notes. She made sure that the shops that kept the notes that thought they were fake did not take any money from her accounts by informing Lord Richard she did not make or approve any purchases on that day except for the one shop that did believe her but was so swamped she had to purchase gowns that were already made and no one really wanted. The escort services she contacted were no better, most of the male escorts already booked and the ones that weren't booked she wasn't about to have near her when she couldn't protect herself from them. Lord Kelvin said that he would more than happily be her escort after he…

Well, she felt it was too much to ask him after what he did for her. It wasn't that he wasn't a great man, he was. She just didn't want him to believe that she felt something for him other than gratitude. So, she came alone. The officials were kind, saying that she could possibly find what she was looking for as far as an escort in town and gave her notes to go along with the ones she already had to verify that hers were in fact legitimate. They even gave her a suite of rooms that were closer to her wealth than social status since she was as rich as an aristo now, even if she wasn't born into that class. Still, she felt like she didn't belong with them, a cast-off girl in a cast-off gown that no one wanted to deal with.

However, her food was getting cold just standing there and people were starting to give her strange looks, so she briskly walked over to the table to hear the male telling some sort of story. She set her plate down so she was sitting with a chair on either side of her while listening to the man, with her eyes fixed on the little food she thought she could manage to try and eat with her nerves so shaken up, as he was finishing up his tale. "So, there we both were, chocolate all over us head to toe right?" he said, both the girls laughing as he leaned back and put his hands on his hips. " 'And what do you suppose the Priestess is supposed to have with her afternoon tea now?' Mother said to us, and swear to the Darkness Paulina says 'Well Mother, she might have taken a vow of simplicity before she came over, so we are just saving her from temptation since chocolate is an extravagance.' "

"She didn't," the dark haired girl with violet eyes laughed.

"Oh I did," the curvy dark haired witch laughed.

"Mother gave us both a switching so bad that we both didn't sit comfortably for a week," the man chuckled. Coren was sprinkling salt on her potatoes when she saw a large hand reach over her plate as if the owner wanted to shake hands. "Hey," the man said, when she looked up and saw his smiling face, his body leaning over the table to reach her. "I am Lord Zachary, and this is my sister Paulina and this woman over here is-"

"Cory?" the tall woman with dark hair and violet eyes said hesitantly. Coren turned to her as the woman stood and came to stand beside her. "Cory? It is really you?"

"I...people do call me Cory but my name is Coren," Coren replied in confusion as the woman's eyes teared up. The woman sat next to her and cupped her hands around Coren's face, grinning as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Cory, don't you remember me?" the woman asked.

"Should I?" Coren asked, looking at the woman before turning to Zachary and Paulina, who seemed very interested in their breakfast possibly just to give them some privacy. When Coren looked back at the woman, she noticed the woman's hands shaking.

"Coren, it is Mirana. You don't remember me at all?" the woman she now knew as Mirana asked.

"I am sorry but I don't-"

"Hell's Fire, Mother Night, and May the Darkness be Merciful," she heard a man say beside them. Mirana let her face go so she could turn and see an older gentleman holding a plate piled high with food gazing at her in wonder. "Coren."

"I don't understan-" Coren was interrupted by the gentleman scooping her up in his arms in a tight hug. Mirana took his plate from him as he rocked her back and forth.

"We looked for you for so long," he breathed in her ear before stepping back slightly and giving her a fatherly once over. "Mother Night how you have grown."

"Who are you people?" Coren blurted out, looking back and forth in panic at Mirana and the gentleman who now dropped his hands from her body. "How do you know who I am? Why are you looking at me like you are seeing a long lost relative or something?"

"Because we do know you, and we are your family in a sense," Mirana said, her face now studying Coren's. "You honestly don't remember me or Papa at all?"

"I have no idea in Hell who you people are," she said just short of a yell, becoming painfully aware that people at the other tables were noticing their little drama. She quickly sat at her place and started to pick at her food while the gentleman sat on the seat beside her. Mirana didn't move.

"I am Lord Andrew," she heard the gentleman say to her as she stabbed at her eggs and refused to look at him. She didn't like this feeling, this anger that she was feeling towards them for making her feel more uncomfortable about being here when she thought that it couldn't get any worse, but also this feeling like she really should know who they were since they were both so insistent about how they both looked for her for so long. The gentleman continued to speak, though she wouldn't let him know she was acknowledging any of it. "We run a candy shop in Challiot. You use to come there all the time and-"

"You know, my mother owns a dress shop in town Lady Coren," the woman she was told was Paulina said, causing Lord Andrew to stop speaking and Coren to look up. "I noticed that while the gown you have on is rather interesting in design, I can see that it wasn't made to fit your form."

"I had some trouble with my finances, so when I finally got them sorted it was already too late to order new gowns. I had to take the ready-made ones that were close enough they would do," Coren explained, grateful that this woman changed the subject.

"I see," Paulina said, giving Mirana a look that suggested they had communicated this particular subject change that Coren chose to ignore because it shut Mirana and Lord Andrew up. "Perhaps after breakfast we can go there to order you some new gowns. Mother is quite a good seamstress, but most of the aristos won't shop there because she isn't exactly in the best part of town."

"If she could make me some new gowns that fit me better I will more than happily travel where ever I need to go," Coren said, smiling at Paulina in thanks.

"Great," Zachary said. "Will your father be joining us?" Coren ignored the way Mirana and Lord Andrew stiffened at the question as she answered.

"My father won't be joining me today," she replied, and decided to see if they knew anything about the area. "In fact, while we are out do you know of any good escort services? I am afraid the ones in my area could not provide me any escorts with decent references, and I figured that since you are both from this area you might be able to help me out further."

"You are here, alone," Lord Andrew stated angrily. Coren looked over at him and saw his eyes holding a queer glitter in them.

"Unfortunately, yes," she said, taking a sip of the water the server put on the table in front of her.

"We can take care of that," Mirana said cheerfully as she cut into her own food. "How about we finish this breakfast, and then all of us can take a trip to the shop?"

"Excellent idea Mirana," Zachary said as equally cheerful. Coren tried to think of anything that would come off as a polite refusal to have Mirana and Lord Andrew join them on the shopping trip and to have them also help her get an escort, but all of them started talking and planning as if she wasn't there. Surrendering to the fact that she would just have to go along with them, she started eating her breakfast in earnest while thinking of how Mirana and Lord Andrew could know her but her not know them.

* * *

It took every ounce of willpower Prince Alec had not to contact his son, Allan, when Mirana sent him the message that they found Coren. Instead, he packed his bag as quickly as possible and started running to the landing web so he could travel to Hayll's capital where the Presentation was being held. He couldn't believe that after all this time that she was found.

He still remember the first time he noticed her looking at the treat display in the shop window, the look in her large chocolate brown eyes almost breaking his heart because he could see the wanting in it so strong that he almost bought her some of them himself. He knew better because the minute he gave her some treats every street urchin would think they could get something for free. Still, after seeing her come around for a few months every time he was in town when he wasn't at court, which back then was only three days a week, he invited her in for one of the sticky buns and a hot cocoa one particularly blustery day. The mite was only in a light jacket and thread bare stockings that did nothing to help against the cold, which made him wonder if she had anyone to take care of her well-being. He asked her a couple of gentle questions while she snacked, finding out she was only twenty, young for the mixed race he suspected she was since she had bright red hair, that her name was Coren, and how she did have a family but was basically ignored because her father was away working all the time as was her mother and sister. She left that day, and he expected to have a wave of street urchins to buy treats for over the next week.

She came back the next day, lugging a large book with her and slamming it on the table in front of him with a hopeful smile before shyly asking him if he would teach her the things in the book. He was shocked to see it was a Protocol book that obviously came from Kaleer. When he asked her where she got the book, she just shrugged and said she always had it with her, just like her Birthright Jewel was always with her. From that day forward, he made sure that he was at the shop at the same time every day, no matter how little sleep he got from traveling back and forth to court. The little girl came every day for almost a year without fail, till one day she stopped coming. He came every day for a week before he gave up on seeing her again. He remembered thinking that her family must have moved away or she was sent away to school since she was so bright. It didn't occur to think anything else happened to her till his brother contacted him two weeks after that, saying that she was at the shop and he wasn't letting her go home.

Prince Alec couldn't get to the shop fast enough for his liking, and when he finally got there he saw the girl. His little Coren was sitting in his brother's kitchen with Mirana, who was about a hundred and forty at the time, drinking something and eating sweets. It only took a matter of seconds for him to notice the large bruise on Coren's eye and various others on her arms, but it took hours before the little girl was officially in his custody to take home till they could prove that the father did this to her. She then lived with him and his now former wife as a daughter, safe from her family and what danger the posed for her. His sons also loved her dearly, enjoying they had a small witch at home to fuss about and care for. However, for some reason he could not understand it took Allan, his oldest son, almost a year to warm up to her. When she finally broke through his brooding oldest son's walls he put up over his heart, they were almost attached at the hip when he was home from court. He would read her stories, bring her back trinkets and baubles that only little girls could enjoy, and even took her to the gardens when the weather was nice for walks and to play with the other children her age.

Finally, after almost a decade of fighting and investigations, they petitioned for parental rights. Coren was elated to officially become part of the family, Allan asking if they were sure they wanted to do it since she was almost to her majority anyway and it wouldn't do any good for them to adopt her. It may only have been a few years of her being a part of the family to his son, but to him it was officially a witchling that he could call his own the rest of his life since he was only blessed with sons. He should have known it wouldn't have been easy.

As he caught the Green Wind at the landing web and sped his way to meet them, he remembered the night that her bastard of a father took her away from them. They must have known Allan was out of town, because two large Warlords came to the door with official looking paperwork three nights before they were to be granted parental rights. Coren was just on the cusp of turning from girl to woman, and it terrified him to send her with them, but the paperwork looked so real. They wouldn't even let her pack. All of her things that she left were still sitting in boxes next to his wife's in the attic to this day. What stuck in his mind the most, and he could still hear even though it was almost half a century ago, was her shrill screams for Allan as they drug her away. Over and over she kept crying for himself as well, but the way she screamed Allan's name stuck with him more.

He contacted the District Queen's Master of the Guard the next morning and confirmed what he already suspected, but by then it was already too late. When the guards, Allan, and he arrived at the residence of Coren's family the next afternoon, they were already gone. The house was spotless and no traces of them were left. They all looked for almost a month, and couldn't find anything about them. His son was never that same after that, retreating into court life and serving the Queen on missions more than he was home, and his wife never emotionally recovered from the loss of the girl she loved as a daughter, making it easy for the sickness to wipe her out like so many of the others that perished that year. Now, they had her back. They could have her back in their lives, if they could get her to just remember who they were.

* * *

"Yarek had the right idea to only attend the mandatory functions," Jared sighed as yet another group of girls walked away from Luc, giggling and giving him coy looks in an attempt to seem attractive. Luc could only think about smashing most of their skulls in at the moment. "I cannot even get a drink in peace right now. I was stopped three times on the way to the bar by girls who were so very interested in finding out where I was from and who my parents were."

"You too huh?" Luc murmured. Yarek had a very clear sense of how he wanted to do this. His cousin was clever in figuring out that he could eat in the rooms and not have to go to anything beyond the few events that were required for all to attend. The officials would not like him being so anti-social, but they were about to upset a Sapphire Prince with connections to two Black Jeweled Warlord Princes. Luc wished that he had the luxury of being that way, but his people needed more females, and even if they brought back only one it would mean the world to them. He was hoping for a Black Widow more than a Queen since he wouldn't feel obligated to serve a Queen.

"At least at dinner it will be more formal, and I will have Yarek to entertain me," Jared said. Luc was thankful for the dinner being formal, because the women coming up to them randomly were getting tiring. If he didn't know any better he would have thought the charms the Black Widows gave him were not working to disguise his nature. "Uh-oh. Better prepare yourself," Jared said, nodding to a trio of very aristo looking witches with an older female following them at a discreet distance. All of them were blonde, had blue eyes, and were giving off an air of entitlement that made Luc grind his teeth together. They were also making a beeline for him and Jared.

"I never thought I would see someone here who would be worth my time to talk to," the one wearing a green dress that was cut in a way that it was just short of being indecent said to Luc, looking him up and down like he was something to eat more than talk to.

"What makes you think that?" Jared said, stepping slightly in front of Luc. They all agreed that Jared would be the one to act as the dominant male of the group to throw people off in case the charms didn't work. However, it seemed this female didn't want anything to do with Jared even though she gave him a smile and answered him.

"Well, the clothes you bother wear speak volumes about your wealth, and your tall friend here acts like he knows how to behave in front of ladies," she told him sweetly, side stepping Jared to place herself in front of Luc. The other two introduced themselves to Jared as she held out her hands in formal greeting, palms down. "Lady Jolin. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Lord Luc," he replied, placing his hands under hers. The officials wanted all males to introduce themselves as "Lord" to give the males an even advantage as well as act like they were subordinate to all the females. Some of the men at his breakfast table were complaining about it at length, but he thought it was quite clever. He was constantly tired of dealing with women who wanted him for just status and wealth. The way this woman looked him up and down made him think that she was one of them however. She was practically licking her lips and undressing him with her eyes. "I trust that you ladies are having a wonderful time in the Capital."

"Oh we are," one of the blondes that were talking to Jared gushed. Her dress was a very good quality and cut just about as decent as Jolin's but blue in color. "My family and I live close, but we never visit the Capital as often as we should."

"I live just a few minutes away from here," the last blonde in the yellow dress replied. Luc noticed she was a lot more decently covered and her uncertain look told him that she really wasn't comfortable in this setting. He also noticed how Lady Jolin and the woman in the blue dress seemed to dismiss her when another male came over to introduce himself. Luc stepped aside when he saw Lady Jolin's eye get that predatory gleam as she took in the quality of fabric the male had as well as the amount of gems he had on his buttons and cuff links.

"Lord Luc, Lady," he said, holding his palm up.

"Lady Marilyn," she murmured, placing her hands over his just long enough to be considered polite before snatching them back. He raised an eyebrow in amusement as he watched her shift her eyes to Lady Jolin and her companion.

"Are you ladies often together for functions like this?" he asked politely.

"We met just yesterday at check in," she muttered.

"Oh?" Luc asked, watching as Jared introduced himself to the male and started talking with all three about the quality of the accommodations.

"My father is in Queen Jordyn's First Circle," she told him. "Lady Jolin was very interested in being my friend when she found out. I haven't been able to shake her."

"She is distracted now," he told her, nodding to the group. "You could sneak away."

"She is assigned at my table somehow," Lady Marilyn sneered, before giving him an apologetic look. "My apologies Warlord. My father often tells me that my temper is a mirror of my mother's."

"Not apology needed," Luc said, smiling. "Why don't you try to escape now? I am sure my presence will distract her long enough to give yourself a break."

"Thank you," she said, giving her a grateful smile before weaving her way through the tables to the door.

"Where is Marilyn going?" Lady Jolin simpered with a pout that he thinks she thought would look pretty, but it just made her look like a duck.

"I am afraid she was feeling unwell," Luc lied smoothly. "She went to her suite to lie down for a while."

"Her father was supposed to show up for this lunch," Lady Jolin's companion whined.

"I believe she said something about him possibly being around for the formal dinner tonight," Luc lied again. He usually didn't lie like this, but the way Jolin was acting was sending all kinds of warning signals. There was something about the way she was acting that he couldn't put his finger on. Before he could say he wanted to leave to see if Yarek had enough to eat for lunch, Jolin had her arm threaded through his and was basically dragging him to the doors to the garden.

"Well, perhaps you can find a way to entertain us till then," she said demurely.

"A walk in the gardens would be the perfect activity to do before your afternoon nap lady," the older woman who Luc had honestly forgotten about till that moment. He felt Jolin's arm tense for a moment before relaxing. Her smile made him think he was a spider caught in a trap.

"Yes, it would Mag. Thank you," she said, continuing to drag him. "Please join us."

"I suppose Lord Jared and I could go for a short stroll," he said as pleasantly as possible.

*Why do I feel like we are going to regret this?* Jared asked on a spear thread as Katrina took his arm.

*Because I think we might.* Luc sighed as he gave Jolin what he hoped was a pleasant smile as they walked out of the dining area.

* * *

Coren didn't understand why they were still sitting in the shop Paulina's mother, Petunia, owned after all of the business was done. It took a short time to get measured and to pick out the fabrics. They could have easily met the escort back at the estate since they were going to have to be back there for dinner shortly anyway, but Mirana insisted that they meet the escort that they arranged for her there. It was rather strange how Lady Mirana and Lord Andrew cared for her. She didn't understand how they knew her or why they were so insistent that she listen to them, but something inside of her was niggling away at her, telling her that they knew something that she didn't and she should trust them.

"Coren," Lady Paulina said, sitting next to her on the couch in the public area of the shop. The window curtains were closed and the sign even said that the shop was closed, giving everyone a measure of privacy. There was an odd flavor about Lady Paulina when both of them took their pendants off that made her feel strange. It was similar to the psychic feeling she had around her sister, only cleaner. Lady Paulina took both of Coren's hands and gave her a reassuring smile. "I need you to trust me completely, and let me in your self."

"What?" Coren screeched, sending Petunia into the back of the shop and Zachary behind her. She started to panic when she felt his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from getting up off the couch. "Please, please don't hurt me," she whispered, trying to keep control of her bodily functions when she spotted the hourglass pendant around Lady Paulina's neck accompanying a Red Jewel. Lady Paulina didn't say anything else as she clamped both of her hands on either side of Coren's head and started to channel craft. Coren didn't fight it, knowing that if she saved her strength for fighting back later on it might save her, but as Paulina started to open the doors she didn't know where shut and cut away at the cobwebs that she didn't know was in her head, she started to think that she didn't need to fight back at all.

* * *

"Are you sure you can trust her? We just met her," Lord Andrew said as they watched Paulina work. Coren's eyes were still tightly shut, but her shaking had stopped and Zachary let her go. Petunia came back with a tray of refreshments, and a large bottle of brandy.

"Papa, I told her that if she hurt Coren I would break her back to Basic Craft myself," Mirana told her father. When Paulina revealed that she might be able to help Coren, Mirana revealed to Paulina what she was as well. Mirana didn't want to take off the pendant that she wore around Zachary quite yet, not wanting to take the chance he would bond with her even if he was just an escort. The officials said it was likely to happen which was why some of the poorer males of the society offer their services at chance to meet a female to serve. It wasn't that she didn't like Zachary, she thought he was wonderful. She just didn't want to break any rules inadvertently.

"I think they are almost done," Lord Andrew murmured as Paulina began to shake, but Mirana knew better. She could feel the anger coming off Paulina, and knew that the woman was just getting started. It took almost another fifteen minutes before Paulina took her hands off of Coren's head and grabbed the bottle of brandy on the table as she stood. Paulina moved to a chair in a corner, and almost downed half the bottle as they watched Coren sit there with her eyes shut, hands clenched in fists for almost ten minutes before opening her eyes to look at Mirana and Lord Andrew. The both of them watched her swallow hard before slowly standing and inching toward them uncertainly. When she was in arms reach, she shifted her weight uncertainly and gave Mirana a wary look.

"Miri?" she asked warily. "Cousin Miri?"

"Cory," Mirana sighed as she enveloped the now sobbing woman in a hug.

"Mother Night I can't believe I forgot you," Coren sobbed, clinging to Mirana tightly. Lord Andrew put his arms around both of the women, holding them till Coren stepped back to look at Mirana with a teary grin. "Can you forgive me for forgetting you? For not knowing who you were?"

"It wasn't your fault," Mirana said, brushing one of Coren's curls behind her ear and noticing that her eyes were no longer brown, but green. A bright green. The shock didn't fully have time to register when there was a pounding on the shop door. Zachary peered out the curtain before opening it and letting Mirana's Uncle Alec in the shop. He froze as soon as he saw Coren, Mirana feeling anxiety and excitement coming off him in waves as he looked her up and down. Coren widened in shock at the sight of him, her bottom lip starting to quiver as the tears started down her cheeks once more.

"Papa Alec?" she barely whimpered out before he scooped her up in his arms and sat on one of the nearby sofas as her sobs started a new. She clung to him, crying his name over and over as he ran his hand over her hair and cried with her while rocking her back and forth in his lap. Mirana walked over to a now drunk Paulina, prudently turning her back on the two in order for them to have privacy.

"I would like to thank you," Mirana said quietly. "I don't know how I could ever repay you."

*You know what the sick thing about all of that mess inside of her head is?* Paulina sent Mirana on a distaff thread as she looked her in the eyes with anger that the alcohol hadn't quite dulled yet. *I had to leave more of it inside of her head. I cut away at the roots, but if I had pulled anymore of the cobwebs out or forced anymore doorways open, I would have broke her. There is still so much inside of her head that is trapped because of the girl that calls herself her sister. I went to school with that piece of work, and I recognize that particular psychic scent anywhere. If I have anything to do with it that woman will not be anywhere near Coren ever again, or her family since I have a feeling her father was the one that ordered her to do that to Coren. The roots were so deep I almost didn't get them out. They had to have been there since before you guys even met her.*

*She will never have to go near them again* Mirana sent back as she turned back to a now quieted father-daughter pair on the couch. Coren was sitting next to him and happily telling him about her businesses while Alec listened to her, grinning like a fool. If Mirana had anything to do with it, she would make sure that not only Coren would never have to feel the loss of family again, and her Uncle would not lose the girl that was the daughter of his soul as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I have made this chapter in record time. I am hoping to edit more of the first chapter so I am sorry for the confusion people. I hope that this chapter makes up for any time I might have to take to write my fourth chapter or if I get writer's block**

**Chapter Three  
**

Yarek stood against one of the far walls of the ballroom, and tried not to murder the simpering fools that were trying to catch his eye. Jared had told him that this was the wall most of the "Ladies" avoided because it was away from the bar and the males who were parked there for the drinking entertainment of the evening, which suited him just fine. He couldn't stand them, how they looked at him like he was their ticket to something greater. His grandfather told him that this would be the only chance that Shalador Nehele had to bring decent females back home, so he needed to be on his best behavior and try to act like it wasn't killing him that he was in the city. It wasn't that he didn't like going really, it just terrified his mother that he might be taken just like her sister was so long ago. Her sister was so small when she was taken, and his mother didn't want him to be next even though he was over 800 years old. His father drank himself to death after that, walking into a ravine when he was drunk off his ass from one of the taverns three towns over. He let people believe that he was the one that was afraid to leave so people wouldn't know that his dark Opal Healer mother didn't have a weakness or fear. Sometimes he wished he could still go even though he hated the way women looked at him. He used to love going into the cities, seeing the plays and catching up on all the latest gossip from the aristos while watching Janelle Satien politely tell the males that wanted to spend some time with her that they would have to ask her father first. He smiled at that thought as he remembered the first time she told someone that and they shit themselves. The poor dandy was sweet enough, and he personally had no problem with the boy, but not having the courage to ask a girl's father to have permission to spend time with her deemed him not worthy of her.

To be fair, Uncle Daemon was terrifying, as was Uncle Lucivar. If he didn't know them on a familial basis the Ebon-Gray and Black Jeweled Warlord Princes would put him off even looking at Janelle. The girl was also terrifying in her own right, which was why he wished she could have come with him. Both of them connected on the basis that they didn't like the opposite sex very well. They weren't like Jared, preferring the same sex for bed. They just didn't like the opposite sex. Something about them grated the nerves and didn't want anything to do with the ones they had met so far. Uncle Lucivar said there was nothing wrong with the both of them when he asked about it one day, concerned when he almost landed a killing blow on a female that decided to "invite" herself to his room one afternoon when he was taking a nap while visiting Dena Nehele's Queen. Yarek almost cried in relief when Uncle Lucivar said that he was the same way for centuries, it would just take the right woman to open him up. He certainly hoped the Eyrien was right, because he was getting this craving, this want for a family. A witchling to cuddle with at night and read stories to, a son to teach the Old Ways that were growing stronger with each century, and a woman to share it with the rest of his or her days. He didn't care about race, being a mix pretty much opened most of the doors for him as far as that went. It was just really hard to find a woman that didn't mind the fact his village was way out in the country and that their definition of entertainment was the concerts twice a month at The Tavern.

His eyes scanned the room, briefly glancing at the dial on the wall to see he still had quite a few more hours before he was allowed to leave the ballroom, and noticed a dark haired witch weaving her way through the line of people in front of him. He tensed up, preparing himself for the conversation he knew he would have to deal with from the quick glance of her fine dress in the spaces between bodies, and watched as she broke through the last of the people to make a beeline straight to one of the pillars with a large amount of greenery surrounding it without so much as glancing. Her face was set in a slightly harried look while she arranged the plants in such a way that she was hidden from view unless someone was deliberately looking for her, or it would have if there wasn't a large space near the pillar that showed her at just the right angle for someone passing by to think she was looking for some alone time with someone without her escort watching her. He knew this tactic, and saw many times an aristo lady cause drama become some unsuspecting fool thought they were hidden from everything. However, this particular lady looked far too panicked to possibly be playing that game. Her considerably large chest was heaving as she was fanning herself with her program, her golden eyes peeking out every once in a while to scan the crowd.

"Not your business Yarek," he murmured to himself as he fixed his eyes on the main ballroom. For the next few minutes, as hard as he tried he could not keep from looking at the woman. Her figure was much more voluptuous than he was seeing on witches, which her red and gold gown showed off tastefully unlike some of the other ladies in attendance. The long dark hair that had a slight curl, framing her heart shaped face with lips so plump that he couldn't help but wonder how her father let her out of the house, indicated that she was not of the pure long lived races. It also drew attention to the cute little upturned nose she had. He felt himself wanting to kiss that nose, among other things on her person. It scared him when he realized that he wanted to do that, but that didn't stop him from pushing off the wall when he saw her eyes go slightly wide in fear at the sight of an older gentleman weaving through the crowd. He walked over to the pillar, leaned and positioned himself just so, and watched at the man angrily asked if anyone had seen a certain young lady, describing her to them before making his way over to Yarek.

"Did you see a young woman come by here in a red and gold gown?" the man demanded, his face red and sweaty from what Yarek could guess was the man having exerted himself by searching for the young woman since she had started hiding behind the pillar.

"About this tall?" Yarek said, holding his hand about her height next to him. "Dark hair with a slight curl? Gold eyes?"

"Yes, yes that is her!" the man replied, nodding vigorously as he mopped his brow with a handkerchief. "Where is she?" Yarek heard a barely audible squeak behind him as he paused, watching the man grow excited with each passing second.

"She went out there," Yarek told the man as he pointed to the open doors across the ballroom that lead to the gardens. "She was with a young blonde gentleman. They passed by here on the way there and said something about possibly going into town through the private gardens if they could just shake her escort. I guess she did." The man's face turned even redder at Yarek's words, quickly thanking him and weaving his way through the crowd again to get to the double doors that lead outside. He waited till the man was out the doors for a few minutes before speaking to the woman. "He is gone now."

"Thank you," she replied, her voice rich and husky that did things to his libido that he never thought possible. She came out from behind the pillar to stand beside him, her face filled with gratitude. "I didn't think he would be able to get in this thing at his age, but I suppose with money anything is possible."

"Not a fan of his I take it?" Yarek asked, nodding to the doors.

"Hardly," the woman snorted and handed him her dance card. "Take a look at this." Yarek gingerly took it, hoping that his feeling about the woman was right, and opened it. What he saw made his blood boil. Almost every dance was taken by someone named "Lord Harlis Jowns" and the ones that weren't were obviously young bucks that scribbled their names down before Lord Harlis wrote his name.

"I thought the rules stated that you could not have more than three dances with a girl," Yarek asked, flipping through the pages and trying to figure out how to correct his.

"Oh, I tried to tell him that, several times," she grumbled. "However, Zach was in the restrooms and Lord Harlis took it upon himself to liberate my dance card from my brother's trousers. Handed it back to Zach just outside the door, saying he dropped it and we didn't realize what happened till it was too late. The officials said that I could get a new dance card, but by the time we got to them the first set of dances had already started."

"I see," Yarek said, staring at the pages. There was a slight break in about three more sets, two of which were Lord Harlis's and that break was almost an hour long, giving the band the break they needed and time for people to get some food in them. He smiled, the idea coming to him as a server passed by with a tray of wine glasses. The woman cried out when he grabbed one of the glasses and dumped it on her dance card. Grinning at his quick thinking, he grabbed the baffled young woman by the wrist and made his way over to the first official he could find. It was his luck that it was Lady Alice, an older woman that gave off an air of grandmotherly affection every time they spoke to each other. She was even the one who explained to him exactly which events he could skip or have to attend. He let the young woman go and put on an apologetic look as he tapped her on the shoulder. "Lady Alice, I am afraid I have done something rather dreadful."

"What is it, Lord Yarek?" she asked, concern in her face as she saw the young woman beside him in an obvious state.

"You see, I am so clumsy," he said sheepishly, holding out the now soaked dance card with wine and ink dripping out of it. "I was walking with a glass of wine and bumped into this young lady. Her quick reflexes seemed to have saved her dress, but her dance card seems to be ruined beyond repair. Perhaps you could provide her with another so she may possibly have time to get the young men back in the dances they signed up for during the break?"

"Oh you poor dear," Lady Alice said, opening up the card and seeing that it was in fact ruined. The twinkle in her eye was the only thing that gave away she suspected someone more than just an accident as she put a craft bubble around the card to keep it from making any more of a mess before calling in a blank card and handing it to the young woman. "Here you are, Lady Paulina. I suggest you keep this one away from it if you want it to stay dry." She gave them both a wink before walking over to a group of officials that were giving them both the evil eye.

"That was...clever. Thank you, Lord Yarek," the young woman who he now knew as Lady Paulina said. "I just hope that I can get my card filled before Lord Harlis gets back."

"I think I can help with that," Yarek said, spotting Jared and Luc at the bar talking with the guy behind it. He grabbed Lady Paulina's wrist, and weaved her through the crowd once more till they were at the bar as well. He snatched the card out of her hand, ignoring her squawk of protest, and handed it to Jared. "I need to you sign up for three dances on this card."

"What?" Jared asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at it then Lady Paulina. "Does she even want me to sign it?"

"I don't want anyone to sign it," she grumbled from beside him.

"Look, it will help her out by keeping a certain man from filling it up all the spaces like the first one," Yarek sighed.

"The first one?" Luc asked, his eyebrows rising as he plucked the dance card from Jared's hand. "What do you mean first one?"

"The first one had an accident with a wine glass," Yarek explained, somehow keeping a straight face when he saw the look Lady Paulina was giving him out of the corner of his eye. "The last three before break are taken, kind of-"

"Kind of?" Jared asked.

"-and it would help her immensely if you would just sign it for her in case the man in question makes it back and figures out what happened," Yarek said.

"You don't have to dance with me really," Lady Paulina sighed. "Look, I just don't want Lord Harlis anywhere near me. He is a Purple Dusk Warlord who has just enough money to be called aristo, and he thinks that because I am a seamstress's daughter I should be grateful that he is paying any attention to me at all. If you will just sign your name on one of the dances each I will see what I can get my brother to do before Lord Harlis figures out he was duped."

"Lady Paulina, I believe this dance is mine," a young man with typical Hayllian color said, holding out his hand.

"We will take care of this, Lady," Luc told her as the young man took her away. Luc and Jared then turned their full attention on Yarek, both of them smiling.

"What?" Yarek said.

"You like her," Jared chuckled.

"I just don't want to see that man trapping her like that," Yarek said, stepping up to the bar and gesturing to the bartender.

"So, you just dumped a glass of wine on her dance card and decided to bring her to us," Luc drawled, calling in a pen and looking over the dance card.

"Those pendants are supposed to keep us from feeling anything for the witches," Yarek muttered as he gestured to the bottle of whiskey on the top shelf. The officials said the Queen was going to pay for everything, so a glass of the expensive stuff was just what he needed.

"The psychic connection yes, but the physical connection can still happen boyo," Luc said as he jotted his name in three slots before handing the card and pen to Jared. Yarek drained the glass as soon as it was filled, but declined to drink another. He needed his wits about him with this witch. Something about her made him want to hold her close, to kiss away that fear till she felt nothing else but his lips on hers. It was a terrifying feeling for him.

"Hey, write your name," Jared said shoving the card and pen under his nose. Yarek looked over the card, and chose the last dance of the evening before giving his name for the first one after the break, and one of the dances in the middle right after Jared. All three of them were pretty spaced out, leaving some dances for other men, but Yarek didn't trust Lord Harlis not to take those as well. He sat staring at the card till Lady Paulina walked over, but with a different man than she was dancing with moments before.

"Lord Yarek, I would like you to meet my escort and brother, Lord Zachary," Lady Paulina said.

"Pleasure," Lord Zachary said, grabbing Lord Yarek's hand and shaking it vigorously. "Thank you for helping out my dear sister. Lord Harlis is a dreadful beastof a man that I wish I could say I never had the pleasure of knowing."

"We have almost seven dances left to fill though," Jared sighed as he picked up the card and flipped through it.

"Well here," Lord Zachary said, grabbing the card and walking over to the bar to grab the pen. "I can do three of them at least, no wait, two because I promise Cory to dance the court dance with her because she didn't know it well enough to not feel embarrassed. All of the other's I have free you lot took."

"I can fix this," Jared said with wide excited eyes, grabbing the card and pen out of Lord Zachary's hand starting to scribble in the last slots. He then held it out to Lady Pauline with a proud grin. "Go ahead, take a look." Lady Paulina warily took it from him, and opened it up. Her face paled and made a grab for the pen which Jared vanished as soon as she tried.

"I can't have those names on here," she whimpered, giving her brother a pleading look that broke Yarek's heart because she wasn't looking at him like that, to fix what was wrong and make everything better. "Tell them I can't have these names on my card. No one will believe me."

"Uncle Daemon and Uncle Lucivar already told me I could forge their names," Jared told her excitedly. Yarek ground his teeth together, knowing Jared had to have told them where they were and why. "I contacted them while Zachary was signing his names. They won't show up, but the people here don't know that." Which means that his uncles were at least at the Keep here in Terrielle since it was almost impossible for Jared to reach them otherwise, if not closer.

"That is brilliant," Luc said as the music for the last dance before break started. He walked up to Lady Paulina and held out his hand. "I believe that this dance is mine."

"Is it?" she asked, a dazed look in her eyes as Lord Zachary took the card from her before she dropped it.

"My name is in the spot so I suppose it is," Luc teased her.

"All right," she breathed, taking his hand and letting him lead her to the dance floor.

* * *

"Who is that?" Lady Jolin asked Katrina, one of her entourage for the Presentation, as she spotted Prince Grayhaven leading a fat whore onto the dance floor. The officials may fool most of the stupid aristo but she knew Shalador eyes anywhere and Lord Jared had them. They told her they were from the same Territory so there was no other person that "Lord Luc" could be but the Warlord Prince of Shalador Nehele, Prince Luc Grayhaven and the first Black Jeweled Prince to be born in centuries.

"Just some seamstress's slut daughter," Katrina grumbled. "No one really knows how she managed to make it in here, but I heard that her mother beggared herself to bribe someone to let her in here." Jolin sneered briefly at the couple on the dance floor before composing her face in the blank court mask she was known for in her social circles. It was a shame that her real friends couldn't make it or get accepted. Her father had to give up some of his money that he was holding back for a rainy day to get her in this Presentation. She was an Opal Jeweled Queen, a light-Jeweled to be fair, but she shouldn't have had to get him to bribe someone. There was apparently an influx of Queens this year according to Katrina whose Great-Aunt was on the committee that helped picked the right females, which was the only reason she was spending time with the stupid bitch. Most of the lighter Jeweled Queens were already serving in District Courts, and her cousin was the Priestess over in the local Sanctuary that had records from all over who told her how many Queens were registered. It was well within the guidelines how many Queens there were, so she didn't understand why she was refused as a first pick even if there were just a few that were not on the registry where she could get her hands on their names. She got her letter just in time to have new gowns made and unfortunately had to bring along her mother's maid, Mag, as a chaperone instead of a pretty male. Then again, it was good for her to not have a male escort because of the fact Prince Grayhaven was here. It was pure luck that he was here. She wished she would have known ahead of time so she could be more prepared. Every girl in her social circle would be so jealous once she was able to send them letters, telling them how she met him.

It was fate really. She always knew she was destined to rule a Territory. In the past couple of years she had been offered various Districts and even a Providence once she was through with her training, but she politely declined. There were rumors floating around that Shalador Nehele was possibly going to have to look outside of its borders for a Queen. The prestige in being the first Queen in almost two thousand years that wasn't born in Shalador Nehele was too good to pass up. She always scoured the guest list for Prince Grayhaven when attending events near there, and even had one or two events near Shalador Nehele borders that she went to just in case he made an appearance even though he wasn't on the list. No one would refuse a Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince entry to any party. She knew that once they met that he would want to serve her.

But the Presentation was making such a mess of things. He acted so distant with her at the informal lunch today. It was because of these stupid charms, she was sure of it. Everyone was required to wear them, and if they broke the charm before the formal Presentation when they were assigned to reveal themselves then she would be disqualified. She would be sent home with nothing and everything would be for naught. Her eyes followed him on the dance floor, the way he moved and treated the fat whore like a lady worth of respect, and began to plan her seduction of the most powerful man in all of Terrielle.

* * *

"That was kind of them to fill your dance card," Coren said as they were sitting at their assigned table with the beverages and snacks to help them rest before the next round of dances began. "I still have slots open on mine."

"Well you are more than welcome to share some of the males I have," Paulina grumped as she drank another sip of her coffee. Mirana was trying not to laugh at her. She was pretty sure the man in question was a Warlord Prince, maybe even just a Prince the way she described how politely he took care of her dilemma. It was so like so many of the males in her family that she owed it to her Sister that she would not laugh. She already decided that whatever court she ruled that Paulina would be part of her First Circle. She trusted her and something about her made her feel as if they were kindred spirits of a sort.

"Oh it wouldn't be fair to take the males you worked so hard to attract," Zachary snickered before shoving a whole cookie in his mouth.

"Trust me, the fact that they call Daemon Sadi and Lucivar Yaslana their uncles is the only reason why I am not hiding from them," Paulina replied. Mirana gave her Uncle Alec and Papa a look as she sipped her wine. It was interesting that those men had those connections. Uncle Alec called in a favor to have her registered at the Keep, but that was the extent of the connection she had with the people who were allowed to even walk through the front doors of the Ebon Askavi. She was curious as to who these men were.

"I think they are marvelous really," Zachary said. "I spent some time talking with them and from what I can tell they are very important men in Shalador Nehele." Mirana almost dropped her wine glass when she heard that.

"No one from Shalador Nehele has been to a Presentation, ever," Mirana stated, setting her glass on the table and staring Zachary down.

"They told us they were personally invited by Queen Jordyn to attend," Zachary explained, giving her a shrug. "All of the fees and expenses for them are being paid for the by the Queen because she wanted someone from their Territory to represent them." Mirana finished off her wine and stared at the centerpiece. Shalador Nehele was a very secretive Territory. Not very many people were allowed in, and those who did make it into the borders were just dockhands who weren't even allowed off the boats. People say that it is because they are still afraid of Hayllians; others say it is because they don't like outsiders. Mirana thinks it is because they don't want people there that will ruin what they already have, much like when someone new runs a business trying to fix things that aren't broken.

"I am going to freshen up before we go back," Coren said. Alec stood with her and both of them weaved through the tables to the lounges.

"Excuse me," Mirana heard a male voice say from behind her. She turned slightly to see three males, moving toward Paulina. The tall one with dark hair and dark eyes held out his hand to her, smiling. "Since I have claimed the first dance after break I was wondering if I might take you for a short stroll in the gardens, with your escort in attendance of course."

"I rather sit and finish my coffee," Paulina said, picking up her mug and taking a sip. "I am sure you have things to do to kill time Lord Yarek."

"Oh look, nutcakes," the shorter of the three said as he took the seat that Alec vacated and started eating from the platter. "You guys have better snacks than we do."

"You should try the wine, it is excellent," Lord Andrew said, handing the jug over.

"I think I will," the one with gold eyes said, taking an empty wine glass from a nearby table and taking Coren's seat. "It seems that Lord Yarek doesn't have a seat now."

"Fine," Paulina grumbled, throwing up her hands and standing. "I will take a walk with you."

"I wonder if their night garden is a good as they say," Zachary said as he stood and followed the couple.

"I do not know, but I am sure that is quite impressive since so many people are out there for a midnight stroll," Mirana heard Lord Yarek say. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Paulina walking slightly ahead of the two males.

"It is rather amusing isn't it," the male with gold eyes said.

"Oh it is more than amusing to me," the short one said, his mouth full of pastry. "Yarek hasn't shown an interest in a female like this ever. I want to see what happens." Mirana got a good look at his eyes and grabbed his wrist. She saw the green, the same color green the Coren now had in her eyes, and tried to breathe.

"Who are you?" she asked. He swallowed what was in his mouth and set the nutcake in his other hand down, his eyes not leaving hers.

"Lord Jared of Shalador Nehele, Lady," he replied. Mirana studied his eyes for a few moments more before sitting back in her chair and letting him go.

"Papa, I am not feeling well," she said, giving him the look that was her silent signal that she needed to get away from people. "Do you think you could talk to the officials and explain to them I am not up to the last half of the ball?"

"I will take care of that Lady," the other male said.

"Thank you Lord..."

"Luc, Lady," he told her with a smile.

"Lord Luc, thank you," she said, standing and taking her father's offered hand. "Please tell Paulina I will see her in the morning."

"I will, Lady," Lord Luc said, standing with her as did Jared. She gave them both a slight bow before walking around the tables to the double doors.

"Will you need anything?" her father asked, knowing exactly what she was going to do when she got to her rooms.

"Everything I need to make a tangled web I carry with me," she said. When she got back to her suite, her father helped set everything out as she silently hoped that what she saw in the web was something good for once.

* * *

Sitting in the suite of rooms later that evening with a large port of brandy, Luc turned over the events of the evening in his head. The bartender had handed him the brandy after witnessing the events between Jolin and himself that almost turned violent had it not been for Mirana showing back up when she did.

The incident could have been avoided if he had been on his guard better, but being around Lady Paulina and Lady Coren had been such a treat. Since both of the ladies dance cards were not filled by anyone but the people in his group, they ended up spending most of the evening on the terrace outside of the ballroom learning formal court dances that were going to be performed at the Presentations. Lady Coren, once he got over the shock of the color of her eyes, was probably one of the sweetest witches he had met in a while outside of his Territory. Her light teasing reminded him of how Janelle picks on him, making him feel more at home as well as relaxed. He was sorry that a witch such as herself and Lady Paulina were pulled into something like this since they seemed to be different from the other's here, more like the witches he had known most of his life, and was especially disappointed when he found out from Lady Paulina told him about what occurred the day before.

"I know I am breaking a rule telling you this," she said, nodding toward Yarek and Lady Coren dancing a few feet away. "I just feel responsible for the girl now. Her psychic scent is still developing, and I am worried that at her Presentation that she will attract some of the more unsavory males because they will sense that about her."

"I won't tell anyone," he murmured. He watched as Coren laughed and was spun away from Yarek by Jared into a country dance that she apparently knew since she didn't step on his toes in the fast paced motion.

"Thank you, Lord Luc," she sighed.

"I wonder why they didn't place her with your Presentation with yours and…what was that other woman's name?" Luc asked.

"Lady Mirana," Prince Alec replied as he walked over and handed Luc a glass of wine. "My niece."

"Well that explains why she is next week with all the aristo ladies," Luc told them both, taking a sip of wine. He saw the confused looks the two were giving him and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't the two of you see the names on the lists? How the two Presentations were sorted?" The both shook their heads. He blinked at them, and drained his wine glass before continuing. "The first Presentation is for the more lowly members of the Blood society. The ones that were invited because all of the aristo Queens, Black Widows, Healers, hearth witches, and witches were invited according to Jewel strength and they didn't have a choice as well as the more undesirable aristo ladies that most males wouldn't touch without this event. That leaves the rest of the month for the others to get acquainted, the ones that are the real Ladies most of the men want to bond with according to the committee due to their social standing, money, and rumors that they were good solid females. They are the ones you won't see most of the time because they are usually guarded well and put in places that men like your Lord Harlis won't see them easily."

"Kind of like us being out here," Lady Paulina said.

"Yes…kind of like that," Luc said as he heard the last dance call being made.

"I think we all need to go inside," Prince Alec called out to the others, stopping the dancing with groans all around. They all trooped inside with much laughter all around from everyone, but it was cut short when Lady Jolin, Lady Katrina, and Lady Marilyn stopped right in front of them.

"We have been looking for you all night," Lady Jolin said with a voice that he suspected was supposed to sound coy and flirtatious. It just made his skin crawl. Her gaze flitted briefly over the rest of the group before stepping up to him with her hands offered. "Perhaps you can make it up to me by giving me this last dance."

"I was actually about to head up to my suite," Luc said politely, sticking his hands in his pockets. Her smile faltered a bit, but she just stepped closer.

"Well, I am sure that you can hold off just a little while longer to please a Lady with a dance," she said, grabbing his arms and pulling him toward the dance floor. He felt himself spiral toward the killing edge, the air around him turning into a sharp ice cold at the impertinence of this foolish whore to touch him, to try and force him to do something when he clearly did not want to have anything to do with her.

"I believe it is my fault that he is not available for the dance," he heard a voice say. Jolin let him go to send a glare to her left as Lady Mirana stepped between them with a sheepish smile. "I had a slight headache earlier and needed to retire, but this kind Lord promised me this dance since my dance card had so many empty slots before I left. I am afraid I put him in the tough position of giving me an obviously insult by dancing with another woman or just retiring for the evening since I had not let him know I returned."

"He did?" Jolin asked so sweetly he knew that it was just the opposite.

"I am afraid so," Luc said, taking his hands out of his pockets and offering one to Lady Mirana. "If I may claim my dance now Lady, the music is about to start."

"Of course, Lord Luc," Lady Mirana said, taking his hand and letting her lead him onto the dance floor. *Do you know the Queen and her Escort dance?* she sent him, with a sideways glance.

*I do* he replied, not sure where she was going.

*I think we should shock the sensibilities and show them what a real court dance looks like instead of the proper shit we have been dancing* she sent him. *The music is the same beat, and it will add a little spice to this boring affair.*

*If it is what the Lady wishes.* he sent back.

*Then let's dance Warlord.* she replied turning to him and holding up her hands. He put his hands on hers, and then lost himself in the dance at the first notes. Hand over hand, spins and turns, a dance meant to show the volatile and knife's edge dance that a Queen holds with the men in her court. Lady Mirana never lost her focus on him, moving with him as if it was as natural as breathing for her. Her steps matched his, turn by turn even when he added the extra steps only known in certain circles. His vision narrowed in on her, ignoring everyone else as the more complicated part of the dance began, the large turns and hand motions showing the passion of the fights, and the love that the escort feels as he fights to protect the Queen he serves. The crowds murmuring barely registered as the dance slowed to show the forgiveness and understanding once everything is done, that the Queen acknowledges things were done for her in order to protect and serve. As the two of them circle each other, hands intertwined and the music coming to a close, he came out of his reverie to realize that not only had this witch brought him back from the killing edge, but that they were the only ones left on the dance floor. Everyone had stepped back to watch, most of them confused while others were giving them a disapproving look. He registered that Jolin was giving the both of them the evil eye as he delivered her back to her father, thanked her for the dance, then grabbed the brandy that the bartender held out to him and went straight to his rooms. He didn't even notice Yarek and Jared were there till they turned out the lights. All he could think about as he drank the brandy was Lady Mirana.

She wasn't pretty, well not the way that most men would think anyway. Her body left something to be desired, the lines of her face more angular than soft, and being taller than most of the woman he was used to would normally put him off. It was something in those remarkable violet eyes that held him as they danced, a dance that most proper ladies don't even mention in conversation because of the nature of it. He had never danced anything like that before with anyone but Janelle, and only because Uncle Daemon insisted he learned them, even the most vulgar only performed in special events. What really got him was that Lady Mirana wasn't afraid of him. He knew it was possibly only because of the charm he wore, but something in him wanted to know more about her because of the way she approached him without pause to offer him a way to get out of Jolin's clutches without harming the bitch.

The brandy was messing with his head, enough so that he couldn't grasp thoughts anymore as he finished off the last of it. The last thing that went through his head before he passed out was how he was going to make it through the rest of this month without killing any of the aristo bitches that stood between him and what his heart desires.

* * *

"That slut!" Jolin screeched to Katrina and Marilyn as she paced Marilyn's sitting room.

"Keep it down. Papa is sleeping," Marilyn told her.

"Sorry," Jolin replied, giving an apologetic look and not meaning it, but Marilyn didn't have to know that. Marilyn's father had retired for the evening and because he was high enough in society, Marilyn had secured herself a rather large sitting room in the decent area of the hotel. She even had a dumbwaiter from the kitchen's that could bring her food in the middle of the night if she wanted. It wasn't fair really, even if her father was First Circle. Marilyn wouldn't even tell her what caste she was, which irritated her slightly. Katrina already admitted she was a Purple Dusk witch whose family was one of the few of the Hundred Families left after the Purge. She wouldn't reveal herself to anyone yet, knowing that it could jeopardize her chances of ever landing Prince Grayhaven, but if Marilyn continued to be accommodating to her she might just let the girl be in the First Circle of her court when it was set up even if she didn't trust her. Maybe Second Circle if the girl was a light Jewel witch without a real caste. With her father being First Circle it would be a poor decision to put the girl in anything below Second Circle. _Stop thinking about things like that right now, _she thought to herself as she stood at the window and watched the people still milling about in the gardens below.

That fat slut and her entourage of misfits put a real dent into her evening. It was bad enough Mag had her dance card as escort and she would only let the men on her father's list of suitable companions to sign it, leaving her no chance in the first half of the ball to even try to find Prince Luc to get some of the spaces on the second half taken by him. It was that bitch with the violet eyes that really pissed her off this evening more than anything for taking the one dance she was managing to secure. Sure he was cold and distant, how else could he be when he was supposed to give the other girls what looked like a sporting chance, but when he really spent some good time with her dancing and doing the other activities planned for them this week he would not be able to resist the connection to her. She even put in the request that he be one of the young men that were to go out on the historic tour of the capital tomorrow. It was only a matter of making the connections with him she needed to have him fall madly in love with her.

"Only a matter of time," she said softly to herself before she turned to the other girls smile. "Marilyn, see if you can get them to send up a tea tray would you? I am feeling famished."

* * *

In another set of rooms, another witch was up, adding more threads to a tangled web that was starting to become clearer with every connection she made to a chip of her Ebon-Gray Jewel.


	4. Chapter 4

"That was a rather interesting tour," Mirana said she stepped out of the coach she was assigned for the tour. Coren, Paulina, their escorts, and Lord Luc, Lord Jared, and Lord Yarek all followed after her.

"I love how they deliberately left out the parts of the tour that linked back to anything before the Purge in any way," Paulina chuckled, shaking out her skirts and looking up at the estate house.

"And let's not forget how we did not even make it close to the Landen part of the town," her uncle chuckled.

"It was an educational tour to be fair," Lord Luc said, holding open the door for them as they all went into the lobby. She did enjoy today, and it was endless entertainment to watch Paulina interact with Lord Yarek when the tour got boring. Paulina was a strong witch, and she could have told him that his advances were not wanted at any time. However, she didn't tell him no, just sent him glares and grumbled at him when he insisted on doing things with her. It will be interesting to watch when all of the charms were off and he found out about her nature. A lot of men would be put off by Black Widows since the old rumors still held some strength in certain circles, but she hoped the Yarek wasn't one of those males who believed that Black Widows were all crazy and wrong.

"Ladies and Lords," Lady Alice said, coming up to the group as they passed by the desk with a smile and a hand full of paperwork. "I hate to interrupt such a cordial group, but I need to speak with Lady Coren alone."

"With my escort as well," Coren said, gesturing to Alec.

"Oh, of course this does concern him as well," Lady Alice said, gesturing to one of the alcoves.

"Why don't we all go into the dining area and get us something to eat? I am starving," Lord Zachary said, holding out his arm to Mirana who took it and let him lead her into the dining area. It was such a beautiful day that the group as a whole decided to eat out on the terrace. There were several people out there already, and it was hard to get a large amount of space for them to sit all together, but they managed it. As soon as they were all settled, the conversation turned to Lady Jolin, the girl who was trying to drag Lord Luc on the dance floor.

"Does she not have any personal boundaries?" Lady Paulina asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"From what people have told me about her, she has been very forward when it comes to the more prominent looking young men in this place," Mirana's father said with a bite of pastry.

"Mmmm seems to me that she has more ambition than she can follow through on," Lord Jared said, raising his wine glass to the group before draining it.

"So, what does your family do for a living Lord Andrew?" Lord Luc asked, handing Mirana one of the pastries he had grabbed that she hadn't seen and had been eyeing on his plate. She took it sheepishly with a nod as her father explained the business to him. It filled the conversation till Coren and Prince Alec joined them with their plates of nibbles.

"What did they want?" Zachary asked, handing Coren one of the apple tarts that were almost out when he went through the line. She set it on her plate and sighed.

"My social status was not fully realized until recently," Coren replied as she handed Mirana some papers. "The committee had to adjust some of the other women as well since their social status was not fully disclosed; in fact some apparently outright lied."

"Imagine that," Mirana said, giving Paulina a sideways glance before flipping through the papers and noticing that Coren's Presentation day had been changed to the same day as her own. "It seems that your stay has been extended."

"I am to be moved to better rooms once the others have been Presented and sent home," Coren sighed.

"This is a good thing Coren," Mirana laughed as she set down the papers.

"I don't understand what my social connections have to do with all of this stuff," Coren said.

"Social connections are everything," a blonde girl wearing a tasteful pink dress said, approaching the table with an older Warlord Prince wearing an Opal Jewel in tow. "If you are a good solid light jeweled Queen who doesn't have any real connections in court or aristo society, it may take longer for you to get established in a good area. However, if you are from a high standing aristo family and a lighter Jewel, then it won't take long for the Lady to make a name for herself. Dark Jeweled witches are usually not put in the first Presentation because they are more in demand and men want to see how they are more so than the light jeweled witches, but if the Lady in question has a reputation that is less than desirable with a dark jewel…"

"Then the Lady would be put in the first presentation while one of the more reputable light Jeweled witches are put in her place," Paulina finished.

"Precisely," the blonde said, giving Paulina a nod. She then gestured to the group with a hopeful smile. "May we please sit with you? I am afraid that most of the other seats are taken and father said he knew Prince Alec from his time in court."

"Of course, Prince Niall," Alec said with a smile and a gesture to the last empty seats they had. "It is good to see you again."

"As it is you," Prince Niall said, pushing the chair in as his daughter sat before sitting himself. "I apologize for not coming to see you sooner, but I had not realized you were here till this morning when we saw you on the tour."

"Well, my niece is here as well as a very close family friend to be Presented," Alec said, gesturing to Mirana and Coren. "We were just discussing the fact Coren's Presentation Day was moved to the one at the end of the month."

"My daughter, Marilyn, is presented that day as well," Prince Niall said, nodding his head to the blonde that was laughing with Jared about something. "We are fortunate that the two ladies that were taking over my daughter's time were moved to another part of the estate after I complained to the officials. Several young men were getting the wrong idea about my daughter from being associated with Lady Jolin."

"Is that so?" Mirana asked. Prince Niall's lips set in a grim line, obviously debating exactly how much information that he wanted to tell them. She was relieved when Luc spoke up.

"From what I can tell, she seems to be a misguided young woman who needs a firmer hand to teach her the more proper ways to interact with others," Lord Luc said as he took a sip of his wine.

"That is a polite way to put it," Prince Niall said.

"We briefly met the young woman over the last couple of days and that is the only way I can think of to put it without insulting her father," Lord Luc replied.

"Her father is a minor guard in a Providence Queen's Sixth Circle from what the officials have told me," Prince Niall told them as he waved down a passing waiter and taking one of the cups off the tray. "They were not very happy with how she was acting at the ball the other night, and when I told them that my daughter was not able to get away from her and her companion no matter how politely she told the young woman that she would like to be left alone, she was put in the part of the estate that were set aside for the members of this event that had to be kept a better eye on for the sake of the reputation of the Presentation."

"I see," Mirana said, turning over Lady Jolin in her mind. Yes, it would make sense that the officials would want to keep a better eye on the women like Lady Jolin. If women like her were in the Presentation, then the males might stop coming. If the males stopped coming, then the income from the event would not flow into the capital, and the Presentation would have to be canceled once the decent females would stop coming to events because the only males that would attend were the ones that she saw in the shop licking their lips over her because they thought she didn't have any power.

A realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She looked at Coren, the sweet Yellow Jeweled hearth witch, and swallowed hard. Coren would be one of those women on the auction block, the ones that the men would think that had no power and easy to control. As much as she loved the young woman, Mirana knew that she would never think of the attention as negative. Coren spent most of her life around a man who beat her, who used her for the money and services she could bring to the household. A man who gave her pretty words and treated her well here would eventually make it into Coren's heart, and once there he would make sure that he never left it. She tapped on her uncle's mind, and gave him a look before excusing herself to get more pastries. He volunteered to go with her after a teasing remark that he was only going to get Coren another apple tart since she devoured the one Zachary gave her so quickly he doubted she tasted it. As soon as they reached inside, Alec pulled her to one of the alcoves set aside for more private conversations.

*What is it?* he sent her, nodding to the people who were passing by with obvious hopes that they might hear some juicy gossip.

*I need to see if you have any more favors left to get Allan as one of the guards at my Presentation.* she replied.

*Shouldn't be hard to do since most of the men who are guards are forced into it anyway.* Alec told her, giving one of the lady chaperones a glare as she tried to approach them with lust in her eyes. Mirana watched as the lady quickly changed directions and tried not to show disappointment. Mirana felt the same way, her aunt having died long enough ago to have him move on. *Most of them don't want to be here because they might end up on the wrong end of some ladies temper that could bite them in the ass. Allan hasn't been on the rotation a while, so all it would take is a word to the officials to check the lists and request that the guards on your Presentation day are ones who haven't been here in quite some time. Then, a quick word with a couple of the right people and Allan is put onto the roster.*

*Do it.* Mirana told him.

*Why?* he asked, studying her face.

*I have my reasons.* she sent back, giving him her best Queen look. He sighed, shaking his head before offering his arm.

"Let's go by the table and grab some treats. Want the group to believe that this trip was for the food and not something else right?" he said. Mirana took his arm with a smile, and silently thanked the Darkness for blessing her with a male relative that understood that doing things without question was better than endless arguing.

* * *

Lady Jolin watched the group on the terrace from her designated dining table, and tried to not visibly fume as she watched Prince Luc interact with the fat bitch and her friends. Marilyn ruined all her careful planning. The aristo snob told her that she wanted nothing to do with her that morning, and when she tried to explain to the stupid whore that it was best to just remain friends since they had already been seen together the bitch said she didn't care. Prince Niall must have bribed the officials because she was moved to the area that she was informed by Katrina when they first got there held the females who turned out to be the less desirable candidates for the Presentation.

It really pissed her off that Katrina's father told her in a polite fashion that her company was not wanted around his daughter anymore after he found out why his daughter was moved into the area of the estate that most people didn't want their daughters. He was only Third Circle in the Providence Queen's Court that shouldn't hold that kind of power with people, but Mag took his word a law because Katrina was now assigned to one of the seats near the terrace where all the males had to pass to walk into the garden, while she was seated at a table males had to make an effort to see her. The bitch wouldn't even acknowledge her in the lounge that morning when she tried to get herself back in Katrina's good graces. Well, that just meant unless she had a male of good standing with her that Katrina wouldn't make it in her court if she could help it.

In truth, she didn't understand why Katrina told her that the place she was now housed was bad. The women she met here so far were lovely, as were the males that were the escorts. They told her things that Katrina didn't know, like there were only eight Queens in each Presentation batch and how the women were picked. It was rather upsetting to find out that she was now in the Presentation that they told her was the one most of the males tried to avoid because it was the minor society and low class workers. Her father was upset she made such a mess of things when he paid so much money to get her into the Presentation, but he was even more upset when they gave back some of the money and told him that she would be Presented at the end of the week instead of the month like she originally was scheduled. The officials told Mag and her father, who she was sure would have prevented her from being moved if he was able to stay like Katrina's father, that certain things had to be shuffled around for some other members who showed up without notifying them. She would have commented that it was rude to show up without prior notice, but the stiff look her father gave her when she opened her mouth was so unlike him that she was too shocked to continue. It wasn't fair really. She was a Queen who wore the Opal. Surely there was another Queen that they could have moved so the others could keep their places. The official also explained that due to her recent behavior with certain male members that were attending that she was required to share a room with four other girls and the escorts that the officials provided to make sure that she did not cause any more issues. Her heart was pounding as she listened with disappointment as her entire schedule was destroyed and rebuilt in such a way she would not only have no chance to even get near Prince Luc until he would see her a Presentation, she also wouldn't be near most of the higher aristos that she should be socializing with given her looks and caste. No one would know anything about her or who her family was because those two stupid whores had to make trouble for her.

Her father was a problem too. Before he left to go back to court he stressed to her that she not ruin this for her brother. As if a Brightright dark Opal Warlord Prince had anything to worry about, especially since she just knew that Teral would not outrank her once he had his Offering since he seemed to just be abysmal at the most Basic Craft. Her father just didn't understand what it meant to be a Queen. He understood enough that he worked hard to give her the things that she needed to make herself noticed by the other Blood in the courts she served while in training, but lately he was making such a fuss about acting like a proper lady and make sure to follow the Old Ways Protocol that were gaining the support of all the best courts according to him. She didn't understand what all the fuss was about since the courts she was in didn't follow them and everything in them went smoothly. Even the other ladies that she met were telling her how the Old Ways were not welcome in some of the courts because of the extremes that they went into following the Old Ways. One of the girls said that a friend of hers who demanded that the males she wanted to serve her wear the Ring of Obedience, stating that she couldn't trust the males who served her without one, and that Queen was broken back to Basic Craft because she tried to force a male to have one on and sign a contract. Jolin could understand the girl's apprehension to have the males wear a Ring of some kind; she herself was going to have her Black Widows create her own ring like all the other Queens in the area did in the popular courts. However, the Ring of Obedience was only used in the most extreme cases of males that were hard to control, and only when a tribunal says it is so. She did feel that the punishment was a bit severe over something they could have just counseled her on, but she wasn't going to say that in front of Mag. Mag was reporting everything back to her father now which put a dent in all of her plans to escape her clutches once they were away from all the other escorts.

"May we sit here?" a handsome young man asked, gesturing to the other equally handsome young man next to him. Jolin quickly gave them both her best smile and was going to tell them it was absolutely fine that they sat with her if Mag hadn't spoken up.

"I am afraid you young men will have to find somewhere else to sit," Mag told him, sending both of them scurrying off toward the terrace were all the best people seemed to be dining for lunch.

"Those two seemed like perfectly nice gentlemen," Jolin said to Mag through her teeth as she grinned at a group of aristo ladies and gentlemen walking past. "We could have had lovely conversations instead of sitting here with each other in silence."

"Your father gave me strict instructions that I was to only allowed the approved men on his list to converse with you," Mag sniffed, fanning herself with the paper that had the said list of names on it. "He would never forgive me if you were associated with the wrong kind of males before the Presentation. It would put the ones that might be willing to serve you off. I am doing you a favor." Jolin slumped back in her seat, and let her face show the disappointment she felt while her mind turned over her current predicament. If she could just figure out a way to get around the new set of rules that she was now being held to, then maybe her chances with Prince Luc might come to full fruition. Then everything would turn out the way she knew things were supposed to go. She wondered if Prince Grayhaven would need to wear a Ring of Obedience when he served her. Everyone knew that all the best Queens didn't have to have a Ring on their males. It would be absolutely wonderful if she didn't have to make him wear one, because then everyone would know that she was the best Queen anyone could ever ask for to serve. All of the most powerful aristos would line up to sign contracts for her. She just had to get close to Prince Grayhaven to make everything work.

"Mag," she said as she gave the woman her best smile and put on her sweetest face. "If one of the males on the list passes by, would you let me know? I wouldn't want to upset Father any more than he already is, and it would do us both some good to have some company at the table so people wouldn't think anything is wrong."

"Of course, Lady," Mag said, now watching the passing men with intensity. Jolin silently applauded herself for her quick thinking. If she went along with everything her father said, then she could possibly convince Mag to let her go off somewhere outside of the schedule. Somewhere that Prince Luc might be without all of those whores so she could fix any of the damage that Marilyn might be doing right now.

* * *

Prince Allan Millstone stood in his rooms he was assigned by the Queen he was currently serving, and couldn't believe what he was reading. He shook with rage as he read the letter again to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Queen Jordyn had apparently gone through the list of men in the Territory when there was a shortage of guards for the Presentation. His name was on the list as one of the men who hadn't served as a guard for a while and she said it was part of his obligations as part of the tithe to serve one day as a guard at an event of her choosing. This was the event she chose. He crumpled the letter and threw it in the fire before putting up Gray aural and sound shields to go with the physical ones. He started to rage and swear at Queen Jordyn, more over what happened in the past than current events. The last time that he saw her he swore to her that he would not do anything to help her outside of his obligations to the court he served, then walked away from her to finish out what little was left of his contract in other areas of the Territory, far from her.

He knew he shouldn't blame her for Coren disappearing, even if the two men who took her from his parents' house were in her Eighth Circle. She was a busy Queen that couldn't keep an eye on everything. However, it was still her males, the ones she trusted that were bribed by Coren's bastard of a father to take her from a home that loved and cared for her more than her own family. It pissed him off even more that he wasn't there to question the paperwork they presented to his father. He didn't know who ordered him to go out on guard assignment for a visiting Queen that night since he pretty much never went back to court till the night of his contract release. When he was released, he only had one year contracts with every Queen who would take him, stating he wanted to see how different courts acted so when he found a Queen who he felt was a good fit he would know how a real Warlord Prince would react. They didn't have to know the Queen he really served was his cousin who basically refused to leave her father's confectioner's shop. It was also because he was looking for that sweet girl with the red hair, who was now a young woman it had been so long he had seen her.

The first time he saw the girl he thought he was going crazy. The fierce need, the desire to be near the child was a hunger he never felt before in his life. His cock remained flaccid but the lust he felt for the wide brown eyed little girl scared him. He knew of the past of Briarwood, and wouldn't be one of those males. He thought maybe that it was a fluke, but over the first five months of her stay with him he didn't touch her just in case the fire woke in him. It was the afternoon when he had been away for over a month when she flung herself at him to give a hug with such enthusiasm he couldn't take it anymore. He gave her the hug back, and as soon as his mother had her tucked into bed he flew to the Keep at Ebon Askavi.

The High Lord agreed to see him, and he explained his predicament. He didn't want to become one of the men who did things like create Briarwood, men who were called Uncles that played with little girls. The High Lord sat behind his desk, a blank mask as he listened to Allan pour his heart out. It wasn't until Allan voiced his request for the High Lord to make him a whisper in the Darkness that the man behind the desk traded the blank look for a cold rage.

"You want to waste your life, Prince?" the High Lord asked too softly.

"I don't want to waste hers," Allan replied without a pause. He sat, waiting for the killing blow as the High Lord just looked at him, and was shocked when the High Lord got up from his chair to sit in the chair beside him.

"I am sure you have heard the stories of my first wife," the High Lord said. Allan nodded, and the High Lord smiled. "She as infuriating, my first wife. Scared the shit out of me and my father on more than one occasion. I would often wonder if I would die of shock sometimes with the questions she asked me."

"I don't understa-"

"My first wife was twelve when I met her for the first time," he said, a wistful smile on his face. "She had this fire inside her, drew me to her like many of the others in her life. Like you, I desired what the fleshed housed, not the flesh itself till she was much older. There is nothing wrong with you, but I understand how you feel boyo."

"Sir-"

"Go back to your Lady," the High Lord said, standing and moving to the window. "Be her friend, her companion, and when she is old enough that she can acknowledge your claim, pray to the Darkness she accepts you." And with that he was dismissed and sent on his way. It took Allan another month to come to terms with the fact that he was psychically lusting after a child. When he realized that he couldn't stay away from his house forever, he started to enjoy her company. To see her arms held out in welcome when he came home from court asking if he kissed all the pretty ladies was the thing he loved the most. Her chocolate brown eyes never judged him, and there was more than one occasion he showed up at the Keep with glassy eyes from something she asked. The High Lord laughed himself silly on more than one occasion from something she did or said, telling him that his first wife asked the same questions at her age and it was a pleasant surprise to see young girls still ask about such things of the older male members of the household. All that included, it was the best days of his life.

But when she disappeared, it was like the light went out of his world. Mirana kept that one spot of warmth and hope that he held out that she would form a court her could serve in. If he served in that court then he might be able you have some sort of authority over enough males that he could hold searches over Territories in the name of his Queen instead of covert pub questionings that he had been doing over the years. He wondered if her hair was still the same fire bright red that curled or did it darken to auburn and straighten out?

It was that lack of knowing what she looked like now that was holding back all of the searching that he was doing. Prince Sadi couldn't help beyond watching the Gates and asking about every young woman who came through them to Kaleer. He wouldn't cross that line unless it came to Shalador Nehele and Dena Nehele. It was understood that all of the people in those two areas were connected to him because of the people that took him in as a family member centuries ago. Prince Sadi did offer to put in a word with him with the people, asking a few of the Queens to take him in so the grieving could be done where no female would push him to do something he wasn't ready to do, but he declined. He knew he would never find her if he hid away in a Territory almost as secretive as the Dea al Mon. The one time he did visit with Prince Said to the Grayhaven Estate, he was under such scrutiny that he didn't _want_ to go back.

When he calmed down, he realized that he could use this to his advantage. Most men didn't want anything to do with the Presentation, at least the ones in his circle of friends. He knew of three of them that ended up serving in courts that were less than honorable because they were bonded to a Queen that did things to people that still made his skin crawl when he thought about it. Of course, the males were not responsible because they reported it to Queen Jordyn as soon as they all found out about it. If he made it part of the deal that he would get the help he needed to search for Coren, he would gladly be a guard at the second Presentation. He let down his shields and called for a servant to bring him some fresh ink to write his reply.

* * *

"They seem to be getting along well, don't you think?" Alec asked Prince Niall as he, Lord Andrew, and Prince Niall watched the group of young people once again dancing on the terrace instead of in the ballroom.

"Oh smashingly," Prince Niall drawled, taking a sip of wine. "You do know who Lord Luc really is, don't you?"

"Of course I know," Alec snapped. It wasn't hard to figure out Lord Luc was really Prince Grayhaven. He heard good things about the lad when he visited the Queen last year, but he still had doubts about his motives. Males getting ranks and caste ahead of time wasn't exactly smiled upon in this event; however it wasn't uncommon for people to purchase a list of the women so they could hold out if they wanted to try connecting with a strong female. He hoped that Prince Grayhaven wasn't one of those types of males and his interest in spending time with the girls was truly because he liked who they were versus what caste they were. The few times that he visited the Territory with Queen Jordyn when she was her First Escort impressed him enough that he didn't object to his companionship for the girls, all of them. He felt a fatherly affection for Paulina when he met her, maybe it had something to do with the fact that she brought Coren back to his family or maybe it was because she was so akin in personality to Mirana, and any male who thought that she didn't have more than a brother to protect her and shield her was going to have a surprise in store.

"My daughter seems much happier with your group of young people," Prince Niall murmured, nodding to his daughter who was dancing with Yarek to a lively tune playing inside. All of the others were clapping and laughing as she attempted the flurry of footwork to a dance Alec could tell she had only passing knowledge. "She is actually happier than I have seen her in quite some time."

"Are you having problems Prince?" Andrew asked politely.

"We are fine, but Marilyn is…well not many people want to be friends with a witch like her for the right reasons," Prince Niall sighed. "I asked Lady Jordyn to please include her in this year's Presentation because Marilyn has had a rough year with her mother leaving after she had her Offering Ceremony and the rejection of most of the males who realized that getting into her bed wouldn't be as easy as they thought. My daughter hasn't smiled like that in months."

"I am sorry to hear that, Prince," Andrew said.

"In exchange for my favor, I was volunteered to keep an eye out as the Queen's emissary for people who were less than desirable to most of the Blood society. You see, the courts are having a hard time of it lately," Prince Niall confessed as he drained his wine glass. After giving Lord Andrew an assessing glance, he sighed again and shook his head. "Look, if what I am about to tell you gets around then it could hurt everything that Lady Jordyn has been working for these last few centuries. I trust you are still loyal to her Alec, and your brother is not a talker."

"What would I have to do with politics?" Andrew chuckled, leaning against the terrace railing. "I work in a candy store. All I do is pay my tithes and get through the year without the younger members of our family driving me to the mad house with their antics. Whatever you tell me I will keep in confidence because I assure you that everyone I spend time with feels the same that I do." Prince Niall stared at the Warlord for a moment before Alec felt a sound shield go up around the three of them, effectively cutting out all the sound from the outside as well as making sure no one heard them.

"Your daughter being here was the result of much work Warlord," Prince Niall told Andrew. "I was the one who had to go to the keep and personally deal with the Librarian to get all of the records from every witch that is registered. It took many years to get through them enough that the Librarian had no choice to let me have the ones from the Sanctuary near the Keep. When I read the first pages I almost pissed myself with fear. There were hundreds and hundreds of Queens and Black Widows that were registered there and only there. Lady Jordyn was fuming when she found out, Alec. She is right now working on a law that states that even if you go to a Sanctuary outside of your home Territory that you are registered everywhere instead of just the place you go and the Keep because of it. There are thousands of women in hiding, possible good solid women in hiding because families like yours are still afraid."

"But Jordyn thinks that she might have to gear up for a war if the wrong kind of Queens and Black Widows are in hiding," Andrew said.

"We know your daughter isn't one of them, but there are rumors that some of the darker Jeweled Queens want to know why a Yellow Jewel has been in the seat of power for so long," Prince Niall said, rocking on the balls of his feet. "My Lady is a wonderful woman with strong morals and a good heart. Her will is my life. I wouldn't want to see anyone rule this Territory without extensive training under my Queen. The very few who make it to the last leg of training cannot handle everything else that Jordyn wants her to do in order to pass the reign to the next Queen. It isn't like we are just making things difficult, we just want to make sure that the next person to rule does things to make Hayll thrive instead of just survive."

Turning to face Alec, Prince Niall's face had a determination in it that Alec had seen once before, and the situation wasn't pretty the last time he saw it either. "Your niece is one of the few good Queens from the reports that we had to almost beat out of the males who served in the unofficial courts in the pockets of hiding she trained in that Queen Jordyn approves of by turning a blind eye because they are doing good things for the communities they are in or nearby. I was told by them that she would make a wonderful Queen if she would just step up to rule instead of hide in that shop baking and cooking chocolate. Lady Jordyn was quite furious that she hadn't been introduced to a girl of her kind of power sooner, but she understood that it was probably the Lady's choice to not rule and her own court followed her commands." Alec felt his face flush at that remark. It was because of the pull that Mirana had on him that when her training was finished he refused to renew his contract with Lady Jordyn. He didn't tell her the reason why, but he gathered she knew now, which meant that she probably wanted to have a chat with him soon about this. "However, it wasn't just your niece. Lady Paulina was registered at the Keep as well, and Lady Coren isn't registered anywhere at all. That is why I was shocked to find her with you at your table Alec."

"What do you mean she isn't registered anywhere?" Alec said, feeling the blood drain from his face as his eyes locked on his beautiful red-headed daughter of his soul.

"Lady Coren is on the lists, and she does possess the Jewel strength that is on her list I was given, but every record I could get my hands on did not have a Lady Coren listed on it anywhere," Prince Niall told them. "The only records I couldn't get a hold of were the ones from Shalador Nehele, and we all know why we are not allowed to see those records."

"Shit," Andrew swore softly. Alec barely heard those words as he watched his little girl try and teach everyone some strange dance to the tune now playing. He hated to think about it, but what Prince Niall told him made sense. If they had succeeded in taking Coren away from the people who called themselves her family, then the registry in every Territory would have to be checked and altered to show he and his former wife had all parental rights to the girl. Once they found out that she wasn't registered anywhere, questions would start being asked of her family. It made her disappearance and her family running away were all connected to her not being registered. He would bet his entire year salary that Coren was in a registry somewhere, but he hoped it wasn't in Shalador Nehele. If Prince Sadi found out that a member of the people that he protected because of the connections to his wealth and his first wife was taken from her home, May the Darkness Be Merciful on anyone who stood in his way of justice.

* * *

"This new schedule for some of the women here is preposterous!" Lady Winifred shouted as she slapped the file on the table in front of Lady Alice. "There are several of the aristo women who are now being Presented at the end of the week instead of the end of the month. I have several members of my social circle who will be very upset if their daughters are not here the entire month like they are supposed to be."

"Sit down Winnie," Alice sighed, gesturing to the sitting area of her receiving room. She knew this conversation was coming once the new schedules were distributed that morning. As a Red Jeweled Priestess, she was considered the unrecognized leader of the officials to most of the Ladies running the Presentation. Winifred wasn't one of those women. When Winifred was settled, Alice rang for tea to be sent up and seated herself across from the woman. "Did you even look at the Ladies on the list that were moved?"

"They are aristo," Winifred sniffed. "Lady Jolin's mother is a good friend of mine, and I was quite upset to find out that the young woman was moved into the less desirable bunch than where a woman of her standing should be." Which told Lady Alice just where the large bribe was contributed to get her into the Presentation sneaked through, and made her wonder exactly how often Winifred took a bribe in order to get one of her social circle in the event. Lady Jolin was one of the women that Alice was against coming to the event because of the reports she had on the young woman from the courts that she served in while training. There were several other Queens who did not have the Jewel strength that Lady Jolin possessed, but they were more suited personality wise for the event. Alice was shocked to see her name on the check-in list, and investigated it immediately. When she found out about the bribe, it was part of the reason why she moved Lady Jolin. The other part was the complaints.

"Winnie, you do know I had several complaints from the young males in the event correct?" Alice asked.

"A spirited young witch is all she is," Winifred simpered, adjusting her skirts. "I am sure that once she finds her males then she will settle down. After all, weren't we that way at the same point in our lives?"

"I am quite a bit older than you are dear," Alice reminded Winifred, who blushed when remembering exactly how old Alice really was. There were very few women old enough to remember what it was like in Terrielle before the Purge, and Alice was one of them. Lady Jordyn requested that she be part of this because she knew how to spot a witch that was like the ones that created the mess that was Dorthea's rule. She was only an Opal Jeweled Priestess in training at the time, hiding in the pockets of resistance that dotted the realms so she could at least make it to her Offering unlike the women who were out in the open. When the Purge was finished, the pockets of resistance slowly came out of hiding, and being Priestess was what made her one of the women who Lady Jordyn took under her wing. Alice learned in that brief time at Lady Jordyn's court how a _real_ Queen should treat the people that served her as well as how a good Queen should act. Alice almost fell over the first time she saw Lady Jordyn helping build a house with her own two hands instead of Craft. The two women became friends in those few years until Alice made her Offering and took over a Sanctuary almost two days away from Hayll's capital.

"Well, not everyone will turn out to be like that," Winifred said. The tray appeared in front of them and Winifred busied herself making her own cup of tea. "I mean, Alice you are not really being fair about this. Lady Jolin just needs a chance to show her real colors to the young men. Can't you take just one of the Lady's back into this week's Presentation? The Yellow Jeweled hearth witch would be more suited for this week's Presentation, don't you think?"

"That is what this is about," Alice sighed. It was really a curse that Winifred had to know the first week's Presentation candidates caste and Jewel rank. The only relief that Alice had was knowing that Winifred could not tell anyone besides the other officials who knew that same information without incurring the wrath of Queen Jordyn. Lady Jordyn was a wonderful companion with a dry sense of humor. Queen Jordyn took no nonsense and served punishments with fairness that no one could protest them. It was also why the Presentation was a success year after year. Queen Jordyn was the one who sent out the letters and approved the final list once it was put together, which made Alice wonder how Lady Jolin made it on the list when she wasn't on the final draft she sent to Jordyn. "Winnie, Lady Coren is close with Prince Alec Millstone as well as his niece, Lady Mirana. If you did not see her recent financial statements, she has more money than any of the aristos could dream. She has the connections that Lady Jolin wished she had, and she is better tempered for the males attending the event in case you didn't see how the males from Shalador Nehele enjoy her company."

"I haven't notice," Winifred sniffed, her face taking a mask that Alice knew Winifred meant the opposite. Alice would bet her cut of the profits that the Queen gave her as payment for service in the event that Winifred was no only well aware of how the Shalador males were acting towards Lady Coren, but her lovely aristo mothers were complaining that particular group of young women were monopolizing the time of three males. The mothers not knowing the caste and Jewel strength would not matter to the mothers who had romantic notions about the secretive Territory that was under the protection of Daemon Said, High Lord of Hell. If their lovely daughters could make it into that Territory, then maybe that could go along for the ride and catch a glimpse of the coldly beautiful man who is said to be the best male in bed ever.

Alice would also bet her salary that Winifred also didn't like the fact that most of the women in the second Presentation were ones that she had never met before this event. What started as a money making event for Hayll after almost the entire population was wiped out in the Purge ended up being one of the most desirable and fashionable events for a young aristo woman to attend. Women like Winifred did not understand what it was like to have a man serve her because she was only a Summer-Sky witch, but Alice remembered clearly the first year when a young Queen stepped up to the stage only to walk away with the strongest males in the aristo circles. The protests that were launched had to be fielded by Queen Jordyn for months after until the Queen in question finally had to draw the line, and dared anyone to cross it. All of her males stood at the line, waiting for someone to cross their Queen. When the Queen was done educating the protesters exactly how bonding really worked, the protests were few and far between. That particular Lady still ruled one of the Providences close to Hayll's capital and had afternoon tea with Queen Jordyn twice a month.

"Now Alice, you and I both know that connections aren't everything," Winifred said. She used Craft to float the files on Alice's desk over to the table between the two women. "All of these Ladies that are in this week's Presentation having far better connects than the ones in the second Presentation I am sure. Can you look over them for me once more? Just to make sure that everyone is in their correct place?"

"I can take another look," Alice sighed.

"Thank you Alice, you are such a dear," Winifred said as she rose with a smile. As soon as the door was closed behind the woman Alice used Craft and floated the files back to her desk. She didn't need to see the files to know which Ladies Winifred was talking about. There were several young woman who had not only lied about their connections when filling out the forms, while others just paid money to get into the event in hopes to get a better life. It was pathetic really, seeing most of the upper class lowering themselves like this. It made Alice wonder if the Presentation was starting to become outdated.

Then again, there were the hidden ones. The ones that Lady Jordyn had to hunt down and almost drag to this event were the ones that Alice wanted to see go to good places. Alice was not happy to find that some of the girls in the Territories were still hiding, even with the assurance that the troubles were over. She had words with her fellow Priestesses this time, because the Ebon-Gray was hidden. A girl with that power shouldn't have been hidden in courts and shadows of the working class. Prince Millstone should have known better than to hide his niece. There were also the girls like Lady Paulina who were just victims of circumstances of birth. Had she been born to an aristo family, she would have been part of a First Circle from the day her training was complete. Instead, she was overlooked for someone with better connections and social standing. And Lady Coren, the girl with little Jewel power but because of her luck she was now one of the most wealthy women in all of the Territories. There were hundreds of women out there like those girls. Maybe thousands. It was only a matter of time before they would outnumber the aristo girls, and the day that they do will be that day that the Presentation will become something of the past.

Alice rose from her seat with a heavy sigh and signaled a servant to come get the tray. She would have a talk with Queen Jordyn about the next year's Presentation. It was time for a change if they wanted to continue the Presentation. The time had come to change with the times, and Alice wasn't going to see her hard work go to waste because of it.


	5. Chapter 5

"Thank the Darkness that this is almost over," Jared sighed as he set a large tray of goodies in the middle of the table. "I am getting tired of the tears."

"You and I both," Yarek sighed.

"At least Lady Katrina is happy with her partner," Luc said as he took a sip from the flask that Lord Andrew gave him before they came down while watching Katrina talking quietly with the male that bonded with her. It was smooth, rich, and had enough bite that it helped fuzz his nerves from all the disappointment that he had seen tonight. It also helped that most of the men who were looking at him with apprehension would not be there after tonight. They would be secluded from the other women and their escorts so they could not tell the rest of the people staying what rank and caste the males were.

"They are about to start again," Jared said, nodding to the stage where an official was sticking her hand in the jar of names. After much complaining about the order of which the Ladies were supposed to be Presented by a few people, and he could make a pretty good guess on at least one of the people complained, the officials decided that the drawing of names was the only fair way for the Ladies to be presented. He couldn't help but take a petty satisfaction in seeing Jolin growing more upset with each name that was drawn that wasn't hers. Over the last couple of days he had to field many a male's polite inquires about his relationship with Lady Mirana and her companions. He should have known that Jolin wouldn't give up easily.

"Lady Bianca," the official said with the same fake smile that she had been giving for every non-aristo that was presented. Luc was one step away from going up to the bitch and slapping her silly. Many of the girls who weren't aristo were already nervous enough because of the social differences, but the girls also knew that they didn't have the protection from the possible unsavory males in the crowd. As extensive as the background checks on the males were, he knew a few bad apples could always make it in when enough money changed hands. He watched as the pretty but extremely young, almost too young to be presented from what he could tell even if she was of the long lived races or a mix, woman in a worn but clean looking gown took the stage with her brown hair pulled back into a braid and blue eyes filled with fear. The official shuffled papers and gave the crowd another fake smile as she spoke to them. "This young lady is a hardworking and smart eighty seven year old individual according to her reports from her school, and isn't afraid of knuckling down to get jobs done. Her father is in the Eight Circle of Lady Yelena's court and her mother works in the soap factory that made the lovely soaps in your rooms. She is the oldest of seven children, so what little spare time she has outside of her studies and helping care for them is spent doing odd jobs to help make ends meet. Lady Bianca, please break your pendant, and Present yourself." Her hands shook as she removed the necklace that held the charm and set it on the table that all the other girls had, then picked up the large rock. He felt the sharp ping as soon as she smashed it on the charm like all of the others, effectively breaking the spell and showing them who she really was. The girl stood proud, her eyes growing watery as her psychic scent filled his senses as well as the others. What he felt made him want to find the girl's father and strangle him.

Her psychic scent was clearly that of the virgin, lacking the scent of a mature witch who had been through her Virgin Night. She was only a Purple Dusk healer-in-training, which meant that even if she were in danger she wouldn't fight back. He had knowing too many Healers in his life to not know what they were like in temperament, his aunt being the main one. He watched as she shifted from one foot to the other, giving the charm the full two minutes they said that it would take for the charm to fully wear off before stepping forward. "Are there any men in the audience willing to serve?" her clear high soprano voice said to the males. Luc watched as a few of the older men, the ones with only lust in their eyes at the prospect of having such a young thing under their control, and almost stood up to offer himself even if it was just for protection. He was shocked to find he didn't have to as he watched Jared stand, straighten his jacket, and walk calmly to the stage with confidence. The looks on the other males were amusing as Jared strode right past them to the stage and offered his hand to Lady Bianca, saying a few quiet words to her. Her relieved look soothed his anger at her father a bit as she took Jared's hand, and let him lead her back to the table. Yarek and Luc stood when they approached as the audience applauded, Yarek holding out a chair for her. She gave him a smile before sitting down, letting Yarek push the chair in and set a clean plate in front of her. The three males sat as the official reached in the bowl for another name, but Luc ignored the name as he focused on the young girl. She was obviously frightened at being at the same table as three powerful males, but he could also feel the relief of being off the stage.

"Would you like some coffee, Lady?" Yarek offered.

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

"Have you been enjoying your stay here?" Luc asked politely as he started setting an array of treats in front of her.

"You don't have to be so nice to me," she told Luc with a watery smile. He blinked, watching her turn to Jared and give him a grateful smile. "I know you just want to serve a Healer for the prestige of it. Father told me that men only wanted to be around a woman who has a caste for the status it gives them. I am grateful you saved me from having to insult some of the older males in the event but my father said someone would try to take me away from my siblings for no reason other than to move himself up in society. I won't tell anyone, promise. I will just go home and-"

"Your father has no idea how things really work," Jared said, his entire body shaking with rage that Luc could feel rolling off him in waves. "You have no idea how things really work. A real male, a good male only serves who he wants, not because of a caste. And you…you…" Luc watched as Jared scooted his chair as close as he possibly could get to Bianca, and buried his face in her hair while murmuring softly. Her eyes went wide with shock, but didn't move. Yarek raised an eyebrow and looked at Luc, who was trying to not lose his mind. Jared has never shown interest in the opposite sex, ever. Yarek at least acknowledged that women were attractive and that he did enjoy their company in bed, the few he did take to bed to curb the sexual need all males had overwhelmingly at times. This was new territory for both of them.

"Lady Bianca, they said you are the oldest of seven?" Yarek asked, signaling to a passing waiter by holding up the now empty pot of coffee.

"Yes, I have four sisters and two brothers," she replied, her hand now in Jared's as he back away enough to let her have space to nibble.

"What are they like?" Luc asked as another round of applause rang through the ballroom.

"Noisy," she laughed, visibly relaxing as she started to tell them about her family. Luc sat back as he watched Jared interact with her, and planned out a conversation he knew he was going to have to have with the young man later.

* * *

Jolin sat on the stage, watching as woman after woman was called before her. Most of the girls that she made friends with over the last couple of days loved the idea that they would now draw names instead of going by a roster. It probably had something to do with the fact that most of the girls she met were on the bottom of the roster. She herself was near the top, right where she didn't want to be if she wanted Prince Grayhaven to really see her. He would have no chance to see how the other girls did not compare to what she was and could be to him. It was most unfortunate that she wasn't called near the middle, but being called near the end would be just as good, possibly better since he would have a chance to see almost all the woman. The downside was most of the other males she had been eyeing for her Court has been claimed by the seven other Queens that were present. All of them were minor Queens, no real aristo or social status and none of them had a Jewel darker than a Summer-Sky. She was also highly upset that the working class healer-in-training was picked up by one of Prince Grayhaven's men. It was highly unlikely that she would have normally let someone like her in her court, but she knew that if she wanted Luc to be with her she would have to take his friends in the court as well, at least for the first few years.

"Lady Theresa," the official called. Jolin gave a half-hearted clap as the girl walked to the stage, only leaving her sitting there. She watched as the young woman broke her charm and a handsome young Warlord Prince that she had seen at parties on occasion claim her before walking off the stage. The official gave her a smile, nodding to the place where all the other girls stood before her. Jolin put on her best smile as she stood and strode to the stage, deliberately standing further forward than everyone else. She heard the official rustling some papers as she cleared her throat. "Ahem, Lady Jolin. Her father is a Purple Dusk Warlord in Lady Beyna's Fifth Circle and her mother is sadly passed on. She has one sibling, and has attended the finest schools in the area. Lady Jolin, please break your pendant and Present yourself." Jolin tried to not show disappointment at such a short description when everyone else had one with much more detail as she stepped back to the table and placed her pendant on the table with flourish. She brought the rock down onto the pendant with such force it made the official flinch. As she looked up at the crowd, watching all the men absorb who she was and what she was, then gave her best smile before stepping forward. Her gaze briefly flicked over Prince Grayhaven as she gazed across the room to see if any males would be willing to serve her. She felt her anger rise when she noticed he was too busy talking with that untrained bitch and not taking notice of her. He should be feeling something by now, the charm was wearing off. It made things worse that every male that stepped forward was as old as her father, most of them she could feel that connection, that she held the leash for them as they took step after trembling step forward. She tried to keep her smile filled with pleasure as eight men stood in front of her, none of them younger than her father and one as old as her grandfather would be if he was still alive. It was the oldest that came forward, a Purple Dusk Warlord, and offered his hand to her.

"It would please me to serve you Lady," he said.

"As it would please me," she replied, taking his offered hand and using craft to float off the stage. She kept a discreet eye on the Prince Grayhaven as all the males circled her as they lead her out of the room, and couldn't mask the disappointment that he was watching as the men left with her without getting up to follow her as well.

* * *

Jared watched Lady Bianca chat with the other women in Mirana's sitting rooms later that evening with barely contained desire. This woman, this lovely young women who pulled at his inner being so, was fitting in with the women that he was coming to care for as the days grew on very well. He was severely disappointed that she was going to have to go back to her family tomorrow instead of staying with the rest of them. The officials said that she could come back with the others at the end of the month to witness their Sisters being Presented, so he had that to look forward to as well as the visits he was allowed to make in his free time. Explaining to Luc what he felt for the girl was more amusing and eye opening that it should have been, but he understood where his friend's doubts came from.

It wasn't easy being best friends with two strong males with strong castes and ties to the first Queen directly. Every female they met looked at the two of them, not even noticing Jared was there. The few females who did interest him never looked past Luc or Yarek to see him anyway, so he let everyone believe that he wasn't interested in females. It made seeing everything so easy, being dismissed as a male when everyone believed that he preferred men to women. He and his mother had a good laugh about it when they first found out about the rumor, but they didn't deny it. It was safer for a male that wasn't a target for the few bad women who turned up over the years in Shalador Nehele when he was younger, but it was entertaining to no end to find ways to turn down the other male who felt the way everyone assumed he did.

His mother and father came from Dena Nehele, aristos who were tired of being in the city and wanted to move to a more country area. They settled in Eyota because his mother thought it was quaint that there were Landens living so close to the city. They bought a parcel of land as close to the Landen settlement as the Blood were allowed, and built one of the largest houses that the people of Eyota had seen at the time. People in both of the village were afraid of his parents, all of the people growing up hearing the tales of how the aristos in Dena Nehele were so cruel and demanding of people not in their social class even after the Rose Queen came into everyone's life. It took his mother's cheerful personality to break that ice with just one shopping visit with the Landens. His father often told Jared the story of her first visit into the Landen settlement. His mother was determined to find some handmade items for the home, and the Landens of Eyota were the best in both Territories for things like that. So, she took her bag full of marks and walked right into the settlement on the day that she heard people put out their wares for sale. Everyone was so wary of her that it took her hours to find a shop that was open, a weaving store called The Sheep's Clothing. Ursuna, the old woman that owns the shop watched his mother wander around the shop aimlessly for at least half an hour before approaching her and asking if his mother needed any help.

"Oh, pardon me," his mother laughed with her infectious smile. "I told my husband that I was not coming home without bags full of purchases that would make our house look less like a museum and more like a home. Unfortunately, you seem to be the only shop open, so I thought to kill some time perhaps finding something to do in here. It seems that was a poor idea because I have no idea how to use any of this." His mother waved her hand at the wall of various weaving tools, still smiling. "I would love to learn though. Could you point me in the direction of someone who would be willing to teach me, or perhaps another shop that might be open this early?" Ursuna told him that the look of his mother was so upbeat and optimistic that she found her liking his mother immediately. The two women walked from shop to shop the entire day, making friends with the Landens, who saw her with Ursuna and opened their doors to her. That afternoon showed them that his parents were not the normal aristos. He was born a few years later, and by then his parents were so integrated in the community no one would have ever thought they had lived anywhere else.

He just knew Bianca would fit in as well. It would take some convincing to get her to go, and he would even take her family with them if they would fit well with his community. His parents would love to have little ones running around the house again, not being blessed with more than just one son. It wouldn't take much convincing, he was sure of it.

"I am supposed to go back to my rooms now," Bianca said, rising from her seat. "My curfew is soon and I need to make sure that my things are packed for the morning."

"It would please me to escort you to your home in the morning after breakfast," Jared said, holding out his hand to her.

"As it would be mine, Lady Bianca," Luc said as she took Jared's hand. It surprised him that she was shaking and her cheeks were red.

"I suppose that it will be all right," she said.

"Then it is settled," Jared told her as he lead her out of the room, hoping that her shaking was from the thought of going home period, not from having two very strong males escorting her because she had something to hide.

* * *

"Can't you get this coach to go any faster?" Marilyn screamed up to Yarek and her father, who were sitting in the driver's compartment of the coach that Prince Niall was speeding toward Paulina's mother's shop.

"We are trying, Lady," Prince Niall said calmly.

"Well try harder!" she screamed before slamming the window between the two compartments shut.

"Whoever said Healers were gentle creatures were lying, profusely," Prince Niall sighed.

"My mother is a Healer," Yarek told him with a sympathetic grimace. "I understand how you feel."

"I am grateful that you are not reporting this to the officials," Niall said. "My daughter would be removed from the program and her social standing, despite that she doesn't give a damn about it, would be ruined. I want the best for my daughter, and I hope that she finds it at the Presentation."

"I hope for that as well," Yarek told the man, and really meant it. Lady Marilyn was one of the few women at the event that he could see finding good strong males to serve her. She was friendly, personable, and seemed to not care what her standing in society seemed to be when asked why she wasn't with the Ladies that suited where her father stood in court. She was perfectly happy with the group that seemed to have formed around Lady Mirana over the last week. He never would have thought her as a Healer till Luc contacted him that morning, his psychic thread filled with rage as he asked if Yarek could find a place for them to bring Lady Bianca's siblings and a Healer. His polite inquiry to the Lady's turned into the entire entourage piling into a coach and speeding towards Lady Paulina's shop with a very angry Healer breathing down his neck. It was luck that Lady Marilyn was a Healer and Paulina said her mother would more than happily take in the children till other arrangements could be made.

"We are almost there gentlemen," Zachary said, coming in the driver's compartment by using Craft to pass through the wall and sitting next to Yarek. "Go ahead and land on the roof of the building right there. We share that landing pad with a couple of other shops so that some of the more secretive members of the Blood society can come visit their favorite places without having people notice."

"Handy," Prince Niall said as he guided the coach over the tops of other buildings. Luc was standing at the top of one of the stairs that lead down to what Yarek assumed was the shop when Prince Niall landed the coach. It was barely on top of the building when Lady Marilyn jumped out of the coach and ran towards Luc, who she followed down the stairs just as Yarek was getting out of the coach. Once all of them were out of the coach, everyone followed Zachary down to the door on the top floor of the building. Yarek was one of the last ones in, and he was shocked at what he saw. Five children, three girls, a young boy, and an infant, were all sitting in the chairs, the girls being identical triplets. All of the children were wearing clothing so ratty that they shouldn't have even been called clothes at this point. His nose twitched at the smell of the children and he swore he could see the bones in the holes of the young boy's shirt that stood when he saw all of the people in the room, putting himself between the other children and the adults. He could feel the anger coming from Prince Niall as he went over and started speaking softly to the young boy. After a few moments, the young boy collapsed into Prince Niall's arms, sobbing with what Yarek guessed as relief. Everyone sprang into action, the spell broken. Yarek watched as Zachary and Lady Coren started bustling around the kitchen to make food, Lady Mirana and Lord Andrew started to talk with the other children, and Lady Paulina and Prince Alec went down the hallway next to a staircase that Yarek assumed lead downstairs to the shop. He followed the two down the hallway, not wanting more people than the children could possibly handle fussing over them, and walked into the room at the end of the hallway with them.

"Mother Night," Prince Alec murmured, and Yarek silently agreed with them. Jared was standing next to Lady Bianca was rocking a young girl who was crying and barely wearing a ripped dress on the bed. Yarek went to stand next to Luc, who was leaning against the wall the furthest away from the bed. He could tell that Luc was barely containing his rage as he leaned next to his friend, and watched as Lady Marilyn removed her charm and revealed to them that she was Gray-Jeweled Healer as she talked softly to the girl.

"What happened?" Yarek asked.

"We walked into the house to see four of the six other children in the kitchen, the mother nowhere to be found, and screaming coming from one of the rooms in the back," Luc told him, turning to show Yarek that his eyes still held a chilling edge before turning back to watch Lady Marilyn work. "I told Lady Bianca and Jared to get the children in the coach, because I was not about to leave them in that environment one way or another. I went to the back room to see the young girl cowering at the top of the bed while the young boy out there was to the point of breaking himself back to Basic Craft because he was trying to hold a Green shield over the both of them and a bed with a pantless, full grown Tigers-Eye Warlord beating on the shield, screaming that he was going to kill them both. I snapped a Black shield around the Warlord and held it till Lady Bianca could convince the child to drop the shield to get them both into the coach. Then I Red-Locked the room and left him there with his pants around his ankles."

"Is the girl…?"

"The young Queen is fine," Luc said. Yarek blinked, feeling queasy.

"A Queen," he hissed softly.

"Summer-Sky," Luc said, nodding toward the girl. "He was trying to break her because she just got a letter to invite her to formally train in a court. The young boy came in just as his father was trying to catch her feet to hold them apart. He blasted the man back just enough to get the shield around him. The boy was hoping to hold the shield long enough for his mother to get home, but he didn't have the formal training to space it out enough to last longer than a few moments, especially after a blast that strong for someone his age. I must say I am proud of the boyo."

"We got her here and the boy insisted that stay with the Queen until the Healer got here," Luc said. "I had to explain that the other children needed him to protect them till my friends got here, and Lady Bianca telling him that if he left she would make his favorite cakes as soon as they figured out where they were going to stay if he would leave the room."

"Sounds like a good bribe," Yarek replied.

"It took his Queen telling him that he was to go with the little ones," Luc told him with a smile. "It was probably hard to tell with all the charms and other psychic scents around, but he is a Warlord Prince. A Green Birthright Warlord Prince."

"Shit," Yarek said as he turned to watch the Healer work. A young man with that kind of power if not trained correctly could do some harm to the people around him. If he followed in his father's footsteps it would take a disastrous turn for the youngster. It was breaking his heart to think of what would have happened if all of the children were left in that environment, especially the girls.

"Ladies, if you are hungry there is a tray of nibbles that has just been prepared," Prince Niall said, standing just outside the now closed door.

"Are you hungry?" Marilyn asked the young girl, who nodded eagerly. Marilyn smiled and held out her hand to the girl. "Then I think this is just the medicine that you need. Let's get you a nice bath and new dress before you start to eat though. Nothing feels better than a bath." The door opened, Prince Niall walking in the room as all of the Ladies left the room with Jared, who closed the door behind him.

"I have contacted the Master of the Guard," Prince Niall said. "He is furious that this happened, and had no idea that people still did this in Hayll. Lady Jordyn has been informed and both of the parents are being taken in for questioning."

"Thank you," Prince Alec said.

"The triplets are all Birthright Opals. No caste, but dark Opals. The infant is a Warlord as far as I can tell with everything around us, but I could be wrong. I have never seen a Blood family with so many children, even triplets at that," Prince Niall sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Lady Coren has contacted her man of business, who is coming to town with his wife and they are going to get a place that will keep all of them till we can figure something out. Lord Jared said he is making arrangements for them in Shalador Nehele, but we need a final plan before the Queen will terminate the parental rights."

"We will make sure that things are taken care of," Luc said, pushing off the wall. "I am going to make sure that we have enough food to at least stave off the hunger pains, then I am going to get a list from Lady Bianca of things they need before going into town."

"That sounds like a good idea," Prince Niall said, opening the door to the room. "I will have letters in the afternoon from Queen Jordyn to make purchases for the young ones on her behalf, so I can go with you to help."

"And I will stay and help with the little ones," Prince Alec said.

"As will I," Yarek said, nodding to the Warlord Princes.

"Then let's go help our Ladies before the children overwhelm them," Prince Niall chuckled. Yarek took a couple of steps and froze when he saw a table against one of the walls out of the corner of his eye. He waited till the other gentlemen in the room left before walking over to it, his heart in his throat as his eyes ran over the entire area. His friends hadn't been in Janelle's work room, so he wasn't surprised that neither one of them noticed what was hanging on the wall and on the table. The frames that held tangled webs and the table filled with Black Widow materials could easily be mistaken for a Healer's at a passing glance. He honestly wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if he hadn't spent hours watching Janelle spin the webs herself, making sure she didn't go so far into herself that she was lost to everyone in her life.

"So now you know," he heard Paulina say from behind him. He turned to face her, seeing the charm on the table near the door and her Red Jewel in its place. Her mouth was set in a watery smile as she shrugged and came over to him, stroking one of her frames lovingly. "Not many people know, and the ones who do want nothing to do with me once they find out. I stopped trying to make friends when my last lover told me that I would be better off getting broken because I would never find a male to warm my bed willingly once they knew who I was."

"I see," Yarek said, taking his charm off and setting it on the table before calling in his Jewel to put it on.

"With how I look and my caste, the Presentation was my last hope," Paulina continued. Yarek felt her psychic sent envelope him, wrapping around him like a comforting blanket while she spoke. "I was hoping to find a male who would serve me, who would be comfortable around women like me who are part of a caste who are just starting to become trusted again. If I was a lighter Jewel with a smaller body I suppose that it would be easier to find someone who would want to be around me besides my brother, but with the Presentation I might find a male who doesn't care about all that and-" Yarek put his mouth against hers to stop her talking, threading one of his hands in her hair while pulling her body against his with the other. He waited till she relaxed before pulling his head back just enough to look into her startled eyes.

"Your former lover is an idiot," he murmured before kissing her again and forgetting what was on the other side of the now Sapphire Locked door to spend the next hour convincing her that he meant to spend the rest of his life with her.

* * *

"A Red Jewel," Jolin screeched as she saw her brother walk into the sitting room with his new pendant. Her father said that Teral had his Offering while she was gone, saying that her brother felt it was time and couldn't wait for his sister to return in order to have it. She was very put out about it, thinking of the party that she must have missed that would have her mingling with the best of her social circle because her brother made his Offering. The whole way home she thought of what she would say to her brother, the sympathy she would give him because he probably walked away with the same Jewel as his Birthright. Now, all she felt was anger because he was not only a darker Jewel, but one of the Dark Jewels that were one of the most smiled upon when Queens looked for people to serve in the Upper Circles. "How in the Hell did you get a Red Jewel?"

"By taking what was Offered to me," Teral said told her before walking up to one of the men that offered to serve her and introducing himself. Jolin tried to be happy for her brother, but she just felt disappointment over everything that happened to her this week. It didn't help the whole way home she had tried to make conversation with the men in the group to find that all of them but Lord Unther, the older Purple Dusk Warlord who offered his hand to her, were happily married men. She would have to work hard in order to seduce the younger, if you could call them younger, men in her unofficial First Circle as she viewed it. Her father was so happy that all of the men were working class males who knew how to work hard for the money they earned and kept telling her that she was lucky to have them. She was just upset that she couldn't ask them about the newest plays or what happened at the parties that they could have attended had they been aristos. All the talked about with each other is livestock and what days they all went to market.

It was luck that all of them were from a town that was just on the border of Shalador Nehele that needed a Queen to watch over the District now that their Queen was stepping down. She would still have the chance to seduce Prince Grayhaven once she was settled into her court. If she signed a one-year contract with these men, stating that she wanted to make sure that she was the Queen that they wanted to serve and watch over their people, it would give her the chance to prove to Prince Grayhaven that she was a good Queen. All she had to do was make sure that her rule had a positive influence on her people and word of the good things she did made it to his ears. She just had to be patient and wait out this horrible experience to get what she deserved as a Queen that would hold the leash of the most powerful man in Terrielle once he finally met her without any Craft getting in the way.

"Lady Jolin, are you all right?" Lord Unther asked, concern in his eyes as he kneeled in front of her.

"I am just tired after such a long journey," she told him, trying to look her sweetest while trying to look as tired as possible. "I had not expected this past week to be so tiring or stressful."

"I would be happy to escort you to your room Lady," Lord Unther said, standing and offering his hand to her.

"Thank you, Lord Unther," she said, taking his hand and apologizing to the other men in the room for having to leave so early. When she and Lord Unther reached her room, he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "How dare you handle me like this!" she hissed, but he didn't let go as he stared her hard in the eyes.

"The others aren't old enough to understand how you are acting, but I am you little bitch," he whispered as he gave her one hard shake. Jolin felt her eyes go wide as his face grew hard. "I know what you are thinking, I see the calculations in your eyes. Now, I cannot help that you hold my leash, but I will be damned if I lived through the Purge just to serve a Queen just like the ones that were destroyed when Witch released her power. My heart is crying out to lay my life at your feet, but you and I both know you are going to just try to use me as a stepping stool to get more power."

"You are out of line!"

"But I am right," he hissed, pushing her slightly when he let her go. "I know you are disappointed with who chose to serve you, but this is what you have. We are good men, solid men who will do right by the people you chose to serve and we hope you are willing to do our people justice. However, if you are not what we were hoping for, and what I believe I can see in you, I will not hesitate to destroy you along with the other men in the room downstairs. Am I am making myself clear Lady?"

"Perfectly," she whispered. He gave her a curt nod before turning on his heel and walking down the stairs. She fumbled with her doorknob, not taking her eyes off his retreating back till she was in her room with her back pressed against the door and her hand on her chest. There must have been someone else in those charms the Black Widows gave her, some sort of side effect, because she refused to believe that she was feeling lust for a man who was as old as her grandfather who just threatened her life.

* * *

"How are the children doing?" Mirana asked Lord Luc as he walked into the sitting room of the townhouse that Coren was renting for the children to stay until Lord Jared would be able to take them to Shalador Nehele. Lord Richard and his wife were shocked to see the state of the children, but with Coren's basically unlimited funds the children were now clothed, fed, and housed the best they have been their entire lives. Mirana was shocked to learn exactly how rich Coren was now. Coren thought her funds were nothing much, but after the conversation that Alec had with her Coren realized that she was probably the richest women in Hayll, if not Terrielle thanks to Lord Richard's smart investments. It was amusing to see her trying to make the children dinner after all that was dropped on her.

"They are all tucked in, Lady Bianca is sleeping with her sister since the young girl is too scared to be alone at this point, and it took me four times of catching Prince Scott sneaking out of his rooms to sleep in front of their door before he finally settled down in the room with his little brother," Lord Luc sighed as he sat across from her. "How are you holding up in all this?"

"I am trying very hard to hold myself together," Mirana admitted, leaning her head back to rest it on the back of the chair. "The rest of this month is going to be hard for me to get through."

"Well, if it helps, I didn't even want to come here," Lord Luc told her with a smile.

"I didn't even want people to know who I was," Mirana grumbled without thinking, causing her to blush and Lord Luc to raise an eyebrow. She bit her lower lip and shrugged. "I like my privacy."

"I feel the same way," Lord Luc laughed.

"Well, the parents' parental rights have been terminated and handed over to Lord Richard and his wife temporarily," Prince Niall said. "Marilyn made some sedatives for the girl, but we need to get back to the estate for the formal dinner or all of us will be in trouble."

"Right," Mirana sighed as she pushed up from the chair. "At least we got Paulina and Lord Yarek separated long enough to get their charms back on them. Now we just have to get them to pretend that they haven't been bonded yet." Which was going to take a lot on both of their parts. Yarek kept his eyes on the Black Widow at all times, and she blushed every time she noticed him watching her. The officials said physical relationships weren't permitted, and the fact that the two spent a long time in her room alone, it wasn't exactly a secret what happened. Zachary was teasing her about it the whole way to the townhouse, much to everyone but the couples' amusement.

"May I be your escort for this evening's formal dinner?" Luc asked her. She looked at the man, and wondered what his motives were in asking her. He was far more handsome that a male should be, his clothing spoke of wealth, and how he acted clearly made him the dominant male of he and his two friends. She knew that she wasn't stunningly beautiful, her first and only bed partner telling her that he was doing her a kindness in not staying with her beyond his obligated night because there was no way his friends would understand him being with a woman like her. She later found out that he boasted to his friends that he kept it up longer than any of them possibly could without being drugged by imagining that she was the Lady in the circle that he later married. It was a comfort to know that he cared enough to get her through her Virgin Night without breaking her, being the only Red Jeweled male in the area that was trusted to be with the women with dark Jewels like herself. Perhaps that was the reason she was so wary of any males attentions after that. But, despite her misgivings, she sensed Luc was just asking her because he truly wanted to spend time with her.

"I would be glad to have you as my escort," she said.

"Thank you Lady," Luc said, standing with a grin. "Now, let's see if we can get everyone back to the estates in time for us to put on a show for the officials to make them believe we are still just acquaintances."

"Oh joy," Mirana muttered as she headed for the front door with Prince Niall laughing as he followed behind her.

* * *

**Author's Note: Sooooo yea sorry it took me a couple of days to get these up. It has been stressful and I haven't had the chance to really work on these as much as I should. I hope they meet up to your expectations.**


	6. Chapter 6

Teral sneered with disgust as he walked past the sitting room where Jolin was entertaining her "Court" on the way to the kitchen to get something to eat. He was grateful for the break from Jolin and the men seemed decent enough, but visitors hadn't stopped paying their since she walked through the door two weeks ago. This was the first evening that he wasn't required to go with her to a party she had been invited to at afternoon tea or sit in the room while aristo members of society tittered over the prestige of being a Queen at a Presentation. He had been hiding in his room all day with his account books, pouring over the numbers and wondering how his wealth could have grown in such a short amount of time. Maybe it was because his sister didn't know about his accounts to drain them with her frivolous spending like she did to their father's.

As early as Teral could remember, his sister acted higher and mightier than anyone else in his family because she was a Queen. The realization that she wasn't what his parents wanted her to be came for him when he had his Birthright Ceremony. She stood screaming her lungs out while their mother granted their father paternal rights that he should not have a Dark Opal when she was stuck with a Rose. Jolin screamed the whole ride home and halfway to through the celebration party till Mother backhanded her across the face into silence. The entire group of visitors watched as Mother gave his sister a good tongue lashing before sending Jolin upstairs for the rest of the evening, but that didn't bring down his sister.

When he started picking up the Craft quicker and better than she did, Jolin complained that a Warlord Prince shouldn't be able to do things like that so easily while a Queen struggled with it. She made the suggestion that perhaps he was using his Craft to make her look stupid because people still didn't trust Queens. After discussing it with his mother, he started to pretend his talent in Craft was waning. The smug look on his sister's face every time she did something better and faster than he did confirmed that he never wanted to see her rule anything he cared about.

Jolin started her formal training right about the time their mother died. Teral knew that their mother thought that Jolin might calm down once she was around other Queens, but from what he could see it only made her worse. When she was at home between contracts he was required to accompany her to parties and various other functions since he needed to see what it was like "serving" a real Queen his sister explained. All he saw was her pretending to be friendly to one woman and in the next breath insult her. He asked if she had witnessed any of her Queens that she served take care of disputes or issues in their area, and Jolin looked at him completely baffled.

"The only thing that I have seen was some stupid events that they held once a month to hear people squabble about things they could take care of themselves," she told him. "I mean, seriously Teral? A woman stealing from a shopkeeper shouldn't be an issue a Queen should have to deal with. Isn't that what her court is for?" Teral had to excuse himself to bed early and proceeded to get thoroughly sick in his bathroom. What she said was true about the woman stealing and the males needing to deal with it, but since he knew the incident that she was talking about it made her dismissiveness much worse. A good Queen knew how to listen and take all factors into account. If his sister had been listening to the entire account of the tale instead of just paying attention to what seemed to be a minor issue, she would have known that the woman was not just stealing from a store. The woman was stealing food from the store, poisoning it, and then sneaking it back repackaged on the shelves in Landen stores. It took them months of searching to figure out how the people were getting sick, and a few more months after that to figure out where the poison was coming from. The woman said that Landens were the reason why her family lost their farm, so it was fitting that food from the stores of the Blood killed the Landens.

He sat himself at the formal dining room table with his plate of food and remembered the night that Jolin convinced their father to bribe her into the Presentation. His father knew that a Jolin's reputation wasn't the best, so the Presentation would be the only option she had since the offers to rule in the "proving ground" Districts stopped coming in because his sister turned her nose up at them. She kept insisting that there were other Queens out there who got better offers to rule for the first time that didn't have the Jewel strength she did, so why should she settle for the pittance that they were offering her? The Providence that offered her to rule was one of the few in the Territories that were desperate for a Queen, any Queen because they were so far out in the mountains that no Queen stayed more than a year to rule. Teral paid the bribe himself since his father was almost broke till the tithe came in and he got his pay. Jolin would have fits if she knew about it, but Teral couldn't take his sister's accusations at his father not being a good enough provider for the family to give his daughter the best that she deserved that night when they all were at the table for once eating dinner.

"It is your fault that I can't rise where I need to be in society," she shouted at the both of them as the servants whisked away the main course dishes to make room for the fruit and cheese course. "Both of you don't mingle in the circles that you should being related to a Queen! I should be attending the party at Queen Jordyn's Palace with the rest of the Queens but I didn't get an invitation because you two are too lazy to try for me!"

"Now Jolin," their father soothed. "I understand that you are upset but we really can't afford-"

"Whose fault is it that we can't afford it?" she screamed, sending the servants who were waiting to place the next trays scampering back into the kitchen. "You never take any offers for anything higher than where you are! All you do is stand guard at minor functions and spend time with local tavern bums. If you would make a little more effort you could-"

"We will work things out," their father interrupted. Mollified, Jolin was her usual self-absorbed self until dinner was over and she excused herself to write correspondence. The relief on his father's face when Teral said he would take care of the fees was thanks enough for anything. Teral started investing his court earnings when he first started his training, somehow always picking just the right ones to put his money into that will make it grow. When he tried to ask his sister if she wanted to invest her earnings she laughed at him, saying that a Queen shouldn't invest her earnings just spend them. He took a rather large bite from his sandwich and sighed at that memory. If she didn't want to invest her money in companies, then how would she feel about investing time in her people?

"Aren't we being anti-social tonight?" Jolin simpered as she sauntered into the dining room and daintily slid into a chair on his right. He didn't bother correcting her because she still hasn't publicly acknowledge in front of anyone that he was the dominant member of the household now. She gave him a sugary sweet smile and fluttered her eyelashes. "I really think that you need to associate with our court before we all leave." He swallowed what was in his mouth hard, thinking over what she said closely.

"Our court?" he wheezed.

"But of course," Jolin laughed, patting his arm. "A Queen who has a Red Jeweled Warlord Prince for a brother would definitely have him in her First Circle. What else would you do?"

"I…I…"

"You need to get to know all of them before we officially form the Court brother dear," she told him with what she probably thought was a reassuring smile. "Father will be so pleased that I will have such a powerful male in my First Circle. I may even let you be my First Escort since I don't think I would be able to find a suitable one in my first year of ruling. After that, you could just be my Steward since you are always fiddling away with numbers in the account books for the household funds."

"My current contract-"

"Those can be dismissed, and I know that you only have a month left on it," Jolin tittered. She stood and gave him another brilliant smile. "You should consider it brother dear. Now, you finish your little meal and I expect you to come join us in the sitting room when you are finished. Your Queen needs support from her family." As soon as she left the room, he rushed from the table out to the back garden. He gasped for air, kneeling in the bed of witchblood that he tended to himself since none of the staff or his sister would touch the stuff, and tried to stop feeling as if the claw of a trap were curling around him. He couldn't serve his sister! She was nothing like the Queen he dreamed of serving. Her ambitions were everything he hated in some of the Queens that were ruling now. They may not be anything like Dorothea was, but with the right males backing her a Queen could become her. A Queen like his sister.

Teral stood after a few minutes when he realized that if he didn't do what his sister said she would throw one of her fits. If the males saw what she truly was before the contracts were official then they may not want her to rule at all. He would hate to do that to the males he had grown acquainted with the last two weeks, but they seemed solid enough to handle anything his sister could throw at them. With a sigh, he brushed the dirt off his clothes and went inside to socialize without finishing his food. He wasn't hungry anymore anyway. He would make his sister believe that he would do what she wanted. If she believed that he really would serve in her First Circle, it would give him enough time to figure out how he would get out of her clutches. He loved his sister, but he knew in his heart that he never wanted to serve her.

* * *

"Did you notice the quality of my gown? Isn't is exquisite?" Mirana simpered to Paulina softly.

"Oh my! Well my gown beggared my father for the next year!" Paulina snickered back. They both were at a table with some of the more social butterflies and their admirers since the officials finally caught onto what the group had been doing the last couple of weeks. Mirana knew something was up when she walked into the ballroom with her father and saw the terrace doors closed. Lady Alice met her and her father, explaining that due to some complaints the seats for the dinner break at tonight's ball were assigned and the dance cards were filled out by the officials to assure some of the males time with females they normally would not have the chance to be around. Lady Alice apologized for any inconvenience that it caused and assured them both that the new rules packet for the last week would be passed out to every woman at the formal breakfast in the morning. Mirana was thankful that Paulina was still seated with her, but Coren and Marilyn were both assigned to tables on opposite sides of the dance floor. It didn't surprise Mirana that they were all in clear view of the officials' table after she noticed that the officials were watching all of them closer than anyone else in the room. The entire group had been hiding out on the terrace for all of the formal functions if possible, and Mirana had a sneaky suspicion that Lord Harlis was one of the main people to complain about women hiding. Mirana knew they weren't the only ones hiding from the brief moments she got to see some of the other women in the required classes everyone was attending.

Mirana thought the classes were a joke at first. She had never heard anything about them from the women who came into the shop that had attended, which made her think that they hadn't made it past the first week since all of the women were told they were required of the women who were continuing on in the event. The lessons seemed like a joke at first since they were things that Mirana had been learning as long as she could remember. However, when a simple half an hour lesson about the proper way to deny a Warlord Princes claim turned into an all morning ordeal. All of the women, except for a witch in the highest of the Hayll social circles named Hallidoria that was seated next to her in all of her classes, thought there was nothing wrong with entertaining the advances of several males at once when a powerful male made a claim. Hallidoria had to explain to Mirana while one of the officials told the story about how courts were destroyed because of women not properly handling a male that most of the people still did not teach the Old Ways. Mirana liked the woman instantly, inviting her to the afternoon tea at the townhouse and finding she fit in perfectly with the women who she now called her friends. The other lessons were much more entertaining with someone like her to talk with while the officials droned on about how to act in a Court and what each Circle was supposed to do.

"Lady Mirana," one of the males at the table said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "What do you do for entertainment at home?"

"Oh, I mostly work in the sweets shop my family owns in Chaillot," Mirana replied with a polite smile.

"Is it the one near the Public Gardens? They have the best sugar mice!" one of the women gushed, sending the table back into a discussion that left Paulina and herself out of the loop again.

"Do you think that they would even notice if we left the table?" Paulina asked softly.

"The officials would notice," Mirana sighed in reply, tilting her head to where the officials were standing.

"I tried to get out on the terrace but they have them craft-locked and guarded," Paulina told her. "The one dance that I got with Yarek was enough to tell me that the women all of them were dancing with have been terrors. All of them asked what kind of home he lived in and what he did for a living to support himself, not to mention the couple of them who asked him how many lovers he had."

"Shit," Mirana swore softly. "I get asked that from the males too. I wonder if they are just gauging how skilled I am in bed or how loose of a control my father has on me."

"One of the men asked me if I was able to relocated directly after the Presentation was over," Paulina said.

"You are joking," Mirana hissed. Paulina shook her head with a grimace. Mirana sat back in her chair in shock. The two court dances she got with Luc were enough of a break to deal with the males' constant demands about her sex life. Lady Alice must have noticed that the court dances helped calm Luc at the various balls they have had the last couple of weeks and put him on Mirana's card just enough to keep them both sane. It also helped her keep track of how the others were doing. The boyos were seated at a table far away from all of them, but Mirana noticed that on the dance floor they weren't far away from any of them if they could help it. It was amusing to watch the officials try to keep them away from each other in between dances when the escorts immediately brought the ladies to who the officials were trying to keep the ladies away from.

"Mirana!" Paulina hissed.

"What?" Mirana looked at the table, taking in the shocked look on everyone's face and Paulina's baffled expression before turning to look at what everyone around her was staring at behind her. She was shocked to see a large Eyrien male standing there.

"It is my dance witchling," he said with an arrogance smile as he held out his hand.

"Is it?" Mirana asked raising an eyebrow and waving her dance card in his direction. "We have these handy little cards that say who is our dance partner and I am pretty sure your name isn't in this dance's slot."

"I negotiated for it," he said, his hand and smile not moving an inch.

"Well then I suppose it shall be all right," Mirana replied, taking his offered hand and let him lead her to the dance floor just as one of the officials called out that the second half of the ball was about to begin. Mirana grinned at the look on everyone's face when they caught sight of the Eyrien, almost missing the first steps of the dance because of one particular face. "You know, with the way these people are looking at you it would seem that they haven't seen an Eyrien male before." She heard him mutter something in Eyrien and she gave him a grin before replying in Eyrien. "Now now, that isn't very nice to say about people that you don't know."

"You speak Eyrien?" he asked in shock.

"Lady Quintelian was just as shocked that I picked up the language so quickly," Mirana laughed. "I can't speak any other language but that one, and my father finds it amusing that I picked up a language that I would only be able to use in certain Territories."

"I thought that Lady Quintelian doesn't take anyone outside of her Territory for training?" he asked as he spun her around.

"She made an exception for me," Mirana told him. She watched as he assessed her, making a decision about her before giving her an arrogant smile.

"Luc tells me that you are one of the few Ladies here he can stand to speak with," the Eyrien told her.

"Oh the conversations with the males are not much better," Mirana sighed with a roll of her eyes before fixing her face in what she thought the other Ladies present had as an expression. "My Lord, did you visit the Hoffenfepher's party last month? It was all the rage, though I must say the food was not up to the usual fare. And Lady Hoffenfepher's gown was two seasons old! What was she thinking?"

"Lord Hoffenfepher's accounts must be thanking her for making such a sacrifice," the Eyrien said.

"Oh didn't you hear the recent gossip?" Mirana gasped in mock shock before lowering her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. "Apparently his recent investments have failed miserably and they had to cut back. They hoped that no one would have noticed the corners they cut to throw the usual affair they have at this time of year."

"I see."

"But it will be fixed soon," Mirana said. "Their daughter is marrying Lord Smytheson's son which will not only fix their financials, but put their social status further up in the circles."

"You certainly do understand how their type of society works," he chuckled.

"I could personally care less about gossip," Mirana admitted. "I rather listen to my old tutor drone on about mathematics than hear about who is supposed to marry whom for money and status."

"My sister also has a particular hatred for mathematics," the Eyrien said.

"I think she and I would get along splendidly," Mirana chuckled.

"I am sure that you would as well," the Eyrien told her before stepping back and giving her a bow, signaling that he was done dancing with her. "It has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Mirana," he said as he offered an arm to lead her off the dance floor.

"The dance isn't through," Mirana said, taking his offered arm.

"I am afraid I must leave the floor before more Ladies get their feet injured by males stepping on them," he mused while guiding her towards where her father was standing.

"May I have the pleasure of your name as an apology for cutting our time short?" Mirana asked. She saw him weighing it over in his mind before he handed her off to her father.

"I am Prothvar Yaslana. It was a lovely dance Lady Mirana," he said before giving her father a bow and leaving her with her mouth gaping open.

* * *

"Did you have to tell her your name?" Alec heard Luc shout at Lord Yaslana from where Prince Niall and himself were relaxing with a bottle of brandy. "Honestly Prothvar do you have any idea what I had to put up with in my dances?"

"I rather expect it wasn't as bad as you are making it out to be Luc," Prothvar replied. Alec snorted, knowing his niece well enough to imagine what kind of questions she asked Prince Grayhaven. "She seems like she is a wonderful Lady."

"She asked me if the size of your cocks really were proportional to the size of your wings!" Luc shouted, confirming Alec's thoughts. "I had to deal with her asking if you were related to Uncle Lucivar, did you live in Terrielle or Kaleer, and my other favorite question besides the one about your cock was did I have the knowledge of how long your personal war blades were." Alec swore with such heat that Niall raised an eyebrow at him.

"My niece has a particular lust for large blades to fight with," Alec explained.

"Do I want to know how you got this knowledge?" Niall asked as he handed the bottle of brandy to Alec.

"Let's just say I was witness to a particularly entertaining match between Lady Quintelian and my niece with Eyrien war blades," Alec told him before taking a large swallow of brandy. He really shouldn't take such satisfaction in how white Niall's face turned at that nugget of information but it was nice seeing another powerful male thrown off stride. "Did you find out why Lord Prothvar was here?"

"Apparently his entire family has an open invitation to join the Presentation at any time to attend as they see fit," Niall sighed.

"That sounds so promising," Alec said.

"Listen, Alec, while we are alone there is something I need to discuss with you," Niall told him. "Lord Richard and I had a long discussion at the townhouse today when I went over to check on the little ones while the girls were in their lessons this morning."

"Are the children all right?" Alec asked. He was becoming fond of the large family of children that Coren had decided to support till other arrangements were made. They finally stopped hiding food in their rooms this week and the young Queen was still having nightmares about her father, but other than that they were fine last time he checked.

"Oh no they are fine," Niall assured him, shifting from one foot to the other. "Lord Richard informed me that he has had to hand off his client list to other financial advisors because of some developments that have happened with Coren's former bosses."

"What do you mean?"

"Prince Geoff stopped by the townhouse while Luc and Jared were there earlier last week," Niall told him. "The man asked if he could speak with Coren, saying that he was concerned since she hadn't come home yet. It was a shock to the man that we told him Coren probably wasn't going to return to her home because of current events. Lord Richard had the children at the theatre with his wife and one of Lady Jordyn's guards when the man and his lover came knocking on the door asking where she was because they were concerned about her well-fare. Lord Richard refused to give them any information and dismissed them from the household. The next day they returned with Lord Kelvin, who insisted that they were lovers and were just days from being hand-fasted. I sent a message to Lady Jordyn and she now has at least two of her guards stationed at the house at all times once I found out that they were still in close contact with Coren's family. The guards informed me that Lord Kelvin has been coming by the house every day, but he didn't come to the doors once he saw that guards were posted. One of the night guards said he even tried to visit late one night with a couple of men. They took off when they saw that there were guards stationed at the entrance, but it was enough to have me assign more guards for the night shift."

"I finally cornered Lord Richard in his office today and demanded that he tell me what could possibly be the reason for all of this. He reluctantly informed me that Geoff and Lacey were supposed to inherit the businesses that Coren now owns. I found out that Lord Kelvin made Coren through her Virgin Night and put the pieces together. When Geoff and Lacey found out that Coren was now the owners of the businesses they were supposed to have, they made a plan. My bets are on them hoping that Lord Kelvin helping her through her Virgin Night would have her so grateful she would keep him as a lover. If he treated her nice enough then she might even fall in love with him long enough for a marriage contract."

"And once that marriage contact was official, Coren's money would be theirs'," Alec sighed, tipping his head back. He had seen it many times before the Purge. A rich young woman would be courted by a greedy family, and once she was stuck in a marriage she would be broken. The young woman would be stuck with the family because she would have no where else to go and wasn't safe without the protection of her new "family". It was luck that Coren had been too busy to go visit the children as often as she would have liked and she didn't have to deal with this development. However, in a week she would have all the free time that she could ever dream of wanting. "Tell me that they won't be back to bother her."

"I plan on visiting them myself once this entire event is over," Niall told him. "Coren told Lord Richard that he and his wife could stay in the townhouse for as long as he needed, and I transferred my accounts to him once I saw the way he handled Coren's businesses. The children will probably move to Shalador with their sister once Lord Jared has a place for them. Lord Richard has been sending any of the letters they are sending to Coren right back to them unopened and that no one is to leave the townhouse without a full escort. Queen Jordyn sent a missive to Lady Beyna to see exactly what kind of male Lord Kelvin is before taking action."

"Tell her I will make it up to her for doing all of this," Alec sighed. He handed back the bottle of brandy to Niall and stretched. "I should go check on the Ladies. I left my brother to entertain all of them this evening."

"May the Darkness have mercy on him," Niall sighed. Alec said his good nights to all of the males and walked up a flight of stairs to see his brother standing outside of the door to Coren's suite of rooms.

"It is your turn to entertain the Ladies," Andrew stated.

"Really?"

"I am going to bed," Andrew said plaintively, walking across the hall to Mirana's suite and shutting the door just soft enough to be shy of polite. Alec stared at that door for a few minutes before turning to see Mirana standing in the doorway of Coren's suite with Hallidoria standing right behind her. Both of them were wearing grins that stretched from ear to ear.

"Uncle Alec, you are just in time to tell us about your time with Lord Prothvar over a tray of nibbles we ordered," Mirana said.

"Of course," Alec replied, realizing that as interesting as his brother's night might have been, his night was going to be worse when he walked into the suite of rooms to see the smiling faces of the strong group of women Mirana called friends.

* * *

Talia sashayed into The Knotted Net, trying to act casual after the letter she received from Lord Richard that morning voicing some concerns about how Geoff and Lacey were acting now that Coren hadn't come home after the first week instead of being delighted that the girl was moved into the more desired Presentation Ceremony that happened at the end of the month. It concerned her as well because she remembered exactly how Geoff and Lacey reacted when they found out Old Salty changed his will. You couldn't blame a fellow for becoming attached to her. Most of the men who came into the Red Moon house sang of her beauty and sweet personality after visiting The Knotted Net when Coren was working. Talia just loved the girl because she didn't judge what Talia did for a living or what those working under her did for a living. It also helped that Coren made sure that Talia had the groceries she needed for herself after a long day of work between the sheets or that her favorite dress was always available to wear to the theatre on the rare occasion a special client paid her a visit.

"Talia! My love, come sit at the bar next to me!" Geoff roared out over the crowd.

"Geoff, I see that you are still in port," Talia chuckled to him as she slid onto the stool he indicated. "I expected you to be back out with your men today."

"We are waiting for Coren to come home before he goes back out," Lacey said as she put a glass of wine in front of Talia. "As much as we try we cannot make it past the males who have decided to suddenly take an interest in her life."

"Oh really?" Talia said, taking a sip of her wine and raising an eyebrow. "Do you know the names of some of the men? I could have someone look into it."

"Lord Richard won't tell us anything," Geoff grumbled. "Even after all the business we have given him over the years, he chooses to side with the males who think that it is now their job to take care of Coren."

"Isn't that what the Presentation is for?"

"She hasn't even been Presented yet," Lacey shouted, her face turning a bright shade of red. "We went to visit the place of residence that she set up for a group of brats from the slums of Hayll and one of Queen Jordyn's First Circle seems to have stationed guards all over. We can't even get near Lord Richard to ask him why he handed our accounts over to someone else and moved out of his home! Kelvin said that he tried to contact her once he realized that she didn't get Presented in the first batch like we planned, but all of his letters come back unopened and she is never at the townhouse alone."

"What do you mean like you planned?" Talia asked, deciding not to mention the fact that Lord Richard didn't hand her accounts over to someone else. Lacey's words scared her more. "I thought that Coren was picked by the Queen."

"You didn't think that a Yellow Jeweled hearth witch could get in the Presentation on her own did you?" Geoff scoffed. "We had it all set up, bribing the officials to get her onto the lists, telling her father that once she was married to Kelvin he would have all the money he ever wanted, and even having someone to offer himself to serve her that would bring her back here to us and abandon her to make her more vulnerable to Kelvin's advances. The Presentation just gave us the reason to tell her about her wealth and get Kelvin into her bed. Most women of her social status end up marrying their Virgin Night lovers after all."

"That stupid Black Widow sister of hers had to ruin things," Lacey sneered, handing a tray of food off to one of the waitresses. "Those webs she had wrapped around the bitch to keep her under the family's control must have worn off once she got to the Presentation. Her father assured-"

"Kept her under control?" Talia interrupted. "I thought that she had her Majority."

"She does," Lacey said. "Her father didn't have a choice when we visited and said that he would be able to get a dime until she had her Majority according to the terms Salty had in the contract. He explained that she was one of those head strong witches that believed that she was better than them, so the older girl has had to weave spells around Coren just to keep her from running off like she did years ago."

"We thought that with her only being away for a week they would be fine," Geoff grumbled. "The spells held for longer than that before."

"We all know that her father is a drunk and we can't trust anything he says," Talia said, pushing her now empty wine glass away from herself.

"The money we gave her did start out as a way to get her away from her family yes," Lacey said. "But she stole those businesses from us! We took care of Salty all those years and made sure that he was welcome and after centuries of work all we have to thank for it was him paying for this building! We were so close to having everything!"

"We will get her back love," Geoff assured Lacey as she tapped a fist on the bar. "All of us will. Our man is still in the Presentation and said he will make the offer when she goes up. When she gets back the plan will still be in place. No one else will make an offer for a hearth witch. The rules state that you cannot tell them how much you are worth, so all she can say is she works here as a cleaning woman. That will be enough to put off any male."

"One of my girls called me," Talia said with what she hoped was a convincing grimace. "A regular showed up drunker than normal and I need to help her get him up the stairs to sober up."

"We will keep you posted about Coren," Geoff told her. "After all, you helped her too."

"Stop by in the morning Talia and we can discuss what kind of work you can put her to once we get all the financial business taken care of," Lacey called out as Talia walked toward the door.

"I will!" Talia called back before ducking out of The Knotted Net and walking swiftly towards the Red Moon house. Her thoughts raced as she made her way through the street. Talia didn't want to think that Lacey was talking about putting Coren to work in the Red Moon house after they possibly broke her. She knew that Coren didn't have the temperament to work between the sheets the first time she met the girl. It broke her heart to think that Lacey and Geoff were only nicer to the lass after they found out Salty changed his will, but all the signs were there. The trust started to grow at an exponential rate after Salty died as far as she could tell when she looked over the paperwork herself when Richard came to ask for investment advice. If her suspicions were right, then they were using her trust to hide the money they didn't want the Queen to know about from illegal activities. She thought of all the times that she walked into The Knotted Net late at night to discuss something with the two of them and saw them talking over some paperwork they vanished just as she reached within reading distance of the papers. Talia swore when she realized that she was probably right on the nose about the money because they wouldn't be trying so hard to get her back otherwise. It wouldn't surprise her if they had been using Salty's businesses towards the end of his life until he changed his will and made it so Talia was the executor of his estate until Lord Richard and herself felt Coren was ready to handle the responsibility of being a wealthy woman.

After giving one of the senior girl orders, she went up to her room and penned her resignation letter to Deje. The owner of the Red Moon house maybe furious with her for leaving without more of a notice, but Talia didn't want to be in this part of town once morning light hit. If Talia's ideas had any truth to them, she didn't want to think what Geoff and Lacey would do to her when they found out that she wanted nothing to do with hurting Coren. She vanished the letter and all of her personal belongings before running the back stairway to the street where the Red Moon house's personal coach sat waiting for use. The driver said nothing to her as she gave directions to the nearest Landing Web before settling herself in the compartment. It may seem silly for a Green Jewel witch to be scared, but she had a feeling that Coren was much more than she seemed. Looking back it all made sense now. The distant look Coren had some days and the confusion in her eyes when she was asked about events that happened just the day before were all symptoms she had seen before in victims of Black Widow crimes. Talia trusted Black Widows, but there were still the pockets of bad witches who made a bad name for the Craft that was dangerous for the people around the ones performing it and the witches doing it themselves. The fact a family member would mess with another family members mind still baffled her.

It hit Talia like a sledgehammer and she swore with heat when she put the pieces together. Coren looked nothing like her family, and working closely with Lord Richard for decades she couldn't find out where they took Coren to get her Birthright Ceremony so they could take her to make her Offering at the same place as was the tradition with most of the Blood. She would bet her entire year's salary and her entire investment sum that Coren wasn't truly the couple's daughter. She hoped that she reached the townhouse that Lord Richard said he was residing at before Lacey and Geoff's nephew made any more attempts to reach the girl, because she knew that a witch whose name wasn't readily available in a registry could disappear without a large fuss from personal experience. If another girl was hurt on her watch again and she could have prevented it she never would be able to forgive herself.

* * *

**Author's Note: This may be my last chapter for quite some time. My husband recently got a position in a city that is four hours away from where we live now and I have to come up with ways to make some extra cash for us to move. Unfortunately, these stories do not make me money and my crafts do. Unless I get on a writing spree and write a large amount in a couple of hours it is looking like the chapters will be few and far between in the next couple of months. I hop****e that all of you will be patient with me and forgive me. If you want updates I will try to update my personal webpage and all that often with little things. So, until we meet again thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.**


End file.
